


Who's Afraid of Kagami Taiga?

by merycula (thanksillpass)



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Drabble Collection, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-07
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-01-11 13:26:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 40
Words: 23,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1173589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thanksillpass/pseuds/merycula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Momoi ensures Tetsu-kun's happiness.</p>
          </blockquote>





	1. Rain

The rain starts as suddenly as it ends, but they are still drenched by the time they reach Kagami’s apartment. Kuroko apologizes for the inconvenience before asking Taiga for a change of clothes. The mental image makes Kagami laugh, but the real thing isn’t nearly as amusing. Kuroko is  _drowning_  in his clothes and it does things to Kagami. Especially since it makes Kuroko furrow his brows and purse his lips in annoyance when the rolled up sleeves keep sliding down his arms anyway.

Kagami doesn’t really like the idea of calling Kuroko cute. It sounds too… girly. Kuroko isn’t girly. There is nothing girly about him; despite his size, Kuroko is all hard masculine lines, carved by years of playing basketball. He isn’t ripped like Kagami, but his body lacks the softness of his face, and Kagami can spend hours just running his hand down the muscles of his arms. Kuroko isn’t cute, he is  _hot_. Wearing Taiga’s clothes doesn’t make him look adorable; it makes him look  _his_.

So when Kuroko finally sits down between Kagami’s legs, all Kagami can do not to  _claim_  what’s his, is to move away as far as possible and practically mold has back into the couch. It does horrible things to Kagami, the way Kuroko smells like both of them, the way Taiga’s oversized sweatshirt slides down, revealing Kuroko’s white neck. He wants to sink his teeth in. Sometimes he just wants to lick the skin right of Kuroko. And it scares him.


	2. Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Momoi ensures Tetsu-kun's happiness.

Virtually the first thing that happened after Kagami started dating Kuroko was Momoi Satsuki calling to ask him to meet her. Awkward didn’t even begin to cover it as she sat across Kagami wearing a gentle smile and looking at him with a slightly sad eyes.

“How do you even know about it so fast?” blurted Kagami, unable to contain his curiosity. Was it really  _that_  predictable?

“Akashi-kun told me weeks ago,” she answered in a serious tone.

“What? For real?!”

“No.”

She didn’t say anything more though and Kagami tried not to pout too obviously. He waited, nervous and still unsure if she was joking or not, but Momoi just kept staring at him as if she was trying to analyze him. He clicked his tongue eventually and sighed; patience clearly wasn’t his thing.

“What am I even doing here?” he asked. “Aren’t you, like, in love with Kuroko? Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, trying to assassinate me, or something, instead of having a chat?”

Momoi nodded in a business-like manner; it made Taiga straighten his back involuntarily.

“It’s  _because_  I love Tetsu-kun. Of course, I am deeply hurt it wasn’t me he chose but I respect his decision and I’m here to ensure his happiness.”

That sent chills down Kagami’s spine. Ensure? What did that even mean? Was she going to interview him to make sure he was right for Kuroko, or something? Momoi nodded again and reached for her bag. Kagami gulped. Or, she was going to kill him on the spot and fix the problem. But Momoi simply took out an old fat file case and put it on the table.

“This is all the data on Tetsu-kun I’ve gathered so far. I’ll leave it in your care.”

Kagami couldn’t help but blink stupidly. Probably displeased with his lack of immediate enthusiasm, Momoi slid the case closer to him with an exasperated sigh.

“Everything you need to know about him. Everything you need to know in order to be absolutely perfect for him. Every answer for every possible question, every solution to every possible problem; it’s all here. Take it and make him happy.”

Kagami kept staring at her dumbly for a while before finally bursting with laughter. Momoi startled momentarily before composing herself again and drawing her brows together. Taiga wiped the tears from his eyes and pushed the case back to her.

“You’re crazy. I’m not gonna take it! Know everything? Be perfect? Don’t make me laugh. That’s not how relationships work! Even  _I_  know that, and I’m pretty dumb. Listen, lady. I  _will_ make him unhappy. And he will make  _me_  unhappy. But we’ll make it work. We always do. We’re partners. So thanks for your concern but if there’s nothing else I’m gonna go.”

The smile she offered to that almost made Kagami sit right back down. It was so genuinely happy and relieved it looked almost painful. But Momoi didn’t try to stop him, so Taiga left.

* * *

 

When Kuroko showed up on their first official date looking constipated, Kagami felt like weeping. He didn’t even do anything yet!

“What’s with the face?!” he cried desperately.

“I apologize, Kagami-kun. I’m a little uncomfortable, but it doesn’t have anything to do with you. Momoi-san made me buy a new pair of jeans and they seem to be too-”

“Momoi?”

Kagami frowned in confusion before looking down and almost choking on his own spit. Kuroko was wearing pants so tight it seemed a miracle he could even  _move_  in them. Kagami’s throat went uncomfortably dry.

“Yes. Momoi-san took me shopping yesterday. She said she wanted to buy us both a gift to congratulate us but we ended up not buying anything except those awful jeans.”

Kuroko grunted childishly and Kagami raised his chin and closed his eyes to stop the tears of joy from spilling.

“Are you alright, Kagami-kun? Should we go?”

“You go on,” he croaked with a weak nod. “I just have to use my phone first real quick.”

Kuroko shrugged and Kagami had to bite on his fist to keep a whine from escaping him as he watched him go. His other hand was shaking so much as he was fishing out his phone he almost dropped it.

> To: Touou Manager
> 
> thank u momoi-sensei!! ;A;


	3. Intervention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> my crack at its best

Koganei burst into the locker room with a bang and flushed Mitobe in tow.

“Is Kagakuro here?!”

“Kagakuro?” muttered Hyuuga, scratching his head.

“Yeah, Kagami and Kuroko! Kagakuro! It’s easier to call them by one name since they’re always together anyway. Izuki’s come up with this, didn’t he tell you?”

“I never listen to Izuki, I only pretend I do,” explained Riko, ostentatiously brushing off Izuki’s offended pout. “What about Kagami and Kuroko? They’re not here.”

Mitobe sighed with relief and Koganei nodded in agreement. “We have a problem.”

Riko frowned and motioned for the two to sit down and explain. Koganei took a deep breath and Mitobe patted his shoulder reassuringly. Hyuuga and Riko simultaneously crossed their arms expectantly. Izuki was still pouting.

“Mitobe overheard some freshmen. They were talking about our Kagakuro. ‘Hey, have you heard about the two first-years on the basketball team?’ one of them asked. ‘Yeah, I heard they were total homos,’ the other one said, nodding. ‘Ew, so gross!’ said another and then they all laughed!”

Koganei finished with a pained cry, hiding his face in Mitobe’s chest who only nodded in confirmation of his friend’s words. Riko sighed, resting her fists on her hips.

“It is indeed a problem,” she admitted with an angry scowl. “Our team may lose its supporters because those two idiots decided to go homo for each other.”

“Coach, isn’t it a little cold?” asked Izuki carefully. She ignored him.

“Isn’t it a little cold, coach?” asked Hyuuga. “Those freshmen said pretty hurtful things about them…” She hit him on the head.

“Cold? Hurtful?! It’s their own fault for not keeping it in their pants! Anyway, all they should think of is basketball, so serves them right! But I will not stand by helplessly and watch this team’s good name get defiled! We need to do something about the situation.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and deep thought, each of them trying to come with a plan good enough to satisfy their coach.

“Ohhhh, I get it,” said Kiyoshi suddenly. Everyone looked at him hopefully. “It’s like Branjelina~!”

“What year do you think we have?” asked Hyuuga in utter dread.

Kiyoshi laughed.

* * *

 

Kagami sat across Kuroko in the cafeteria and offered him one of his burgers.

“Thank you, Kagami-kun, but I don’t have the money to pay you back at the moment.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something to repay me,” muttered Kagami absentmindedly, looking around in search of any of their teammates.

He finally noticed Izuki, straining his ear and blushing awkwardly before leaning in to Kiyoshi and reporting something animatedly to him. Kagami frowned as Kiyoshi nodded in understanding and turned around to wave at Hyuuga. What the hell were they doing? Kuroko didn’t even seem to notice anything out of ordinary so Kagami shrugged and went back to eating.

He almost choked on his burger when Riko suddenly jumped on their table with a megaphone in her hand and dangerous smile on her face.

“C-coach?”

“Shut up, Bakagami and be grateful!” she barked before putting the devise to her mouth. “Listen up, peasants! I heard that some of you have a problem with those two being homos! I want you all to know that there is nothing wrong with being a homo as long as it doesn’t interfere with your basketball play! And let me tell you that those two are the most talented players of their time! So don’t any of you dare to put your petty ignorant prejudice above your support for this school’s basketball team, or you  _will_  face my wrath! That is all, enjoy your lunch!”

Kagami’s jaw dropped in horror. Riko smirked down at him, clearly pleased with herself. The entire cafeteria was silent, eyes on them.

“We’re not gay!” Kagami cried in agony.

“You’re not?” she asked in confusion. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure! We’re not gay! Not for each other, not for anyone else!”

“I have a girlfriend,” Kuroko butted in, casually sipping on his shake.

Riko hummed in consideration and shrugged. She put the megaphone to her mouth again. “False alarm, people! They’re not even homos! They’re just unnaturally co-dependent, nothing to worry about! Make sure to support the team properly!”

With that, she jumped off the table and went on her merry way, leaving Kagami shocked speechless. The usual murmurs of everyday life slowly filled back the cafeteria and Kuroko sipped loudly on his shake.

* * *

 

Kagami dragged Kuroko to the empty music room and closed the door before sealing their mouth together.

“That was a close one, Kagami-kun,” Kuroko rasped between the kisses. “I commend your acting skills.”

Kagami just grinned smugly before dropping to his knees.


	4. American Upbringing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroko has reasons to dislike it. And to love it.

There are a number of reasons why Kuroko doesn’t like Kagami-kun’s American upbringing.

There are the little things that irk him, like the fact that Kagami-kun doesn’t follow social conventions properly. Some of the times it makes Kagami-kun look rude and Kuroko is embarrassed for him despite himself. Other times it makes Kuroko uncomfortable for different reasons entirely, like the heat coiling in the pit of his stomach that makes him gasp and comment on Kagami-kun’s boldness in a shuddering voice.

But there are also bigger issues that worry him, like the fact that Kagami-kun doesn’t find his overly familiar behavior towards Himuro-san even slightly inappropriate. The sheer amount of casual touches the two brothers share during one meeting is usually enough to leave Kuroko pouting petulantly for three days. The additional fact that Kagami-kun stubbornly remains oblivious to the reason behind Kuroko’s sulking adds another two days easily.

Then there are the things that upset him almost to the point of anger, like the fact that Kagami-kun doesn’t ascribe the same value to certain matters. When Kagami-kun had accidentally called him by his first name on the phone, Kuroko spent two hours with his head under the pillow, gasping for breath while trying to fight the burning blush off his face. He nearly collapsed before stammering out Kagami-kun’s first name the next day and a curious hum was all he received for the travesty.

There are a number of reasons why Kuroko doesn’t like Kagami-kun’s American upbringing.

However, he is certainly grateful for it when it saves them both the unnecessary trouble and finally cuts short the awkward dance they’ve been caught up in together for so long. He definitely appreciates the way Kagami-kun blurts out an endearingly broken confession before kissing Kuroko with the scorching passion Kuroko always knew he would give to it that leaves him breathless and stunned in the most wonderful ways imaginable. He is positively in love then; with Kagami-kun’s usual, obnoxiously American, reckless abandon.


	5. Eagle Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuki sees all

Izuki Shun is a modest guy. He sees all but do you hear him bragging about like that brat Akashi? No. He keeps quiet. He keeps secrets.

Izuki knows that Mitobe is the only one who likes his puns. Because Mitobe doesn’t talk much people tend to ignore him entirely instead of paying attention to his face, which is very expressive if you ask Izuki, especially the eyebrows. So he knows that Mitobe secretly loves his puns. He doesn’t say anything about it, he just keeps telling them loud enough for Mitobe to hear.

Izuki knows exactly how bad the condition of Kiyoshi’s knee is way before the proverbial shit hits the fan. He can see it immediately, the moment Kiyoshi comes back. He  _knows_  his friend and he knows the way he plays, thinks, talks, and walks. But precisely because he does know Kiyoshi, he doesn’t say anything. Izuki isn’t here to baby him or tell him he’s making a mistake; he’s here to be a part of Kiyoshi’s dream.

Izuki knows that Riko actually wants to be more feminine but doesn’t know how. She was raised only by her dad after all and no matter how doting he was, he couldn’t teach her everything. It’s the little details in her expressions that reveal that she is genuinely hurt when her efforts at cooking or acting seductively are met with nothing but horror. But if she doesn’t want to let it show and quickly reverts to her usual self, Izuki will keep her secret too.

Izuki can’t quite put his finger on Kuroko, though. The guys isn’t secretive per se – he’s honest and always willing to provide any information one might need. He isn’t totally expressionless either, contrary to popular belief – they all have seen him visibly angry, depressed, excited and overjoyed. But there is something about Kuroko that escapes Izuki’s notice entirely and he doesn’t even know what it is exactly. It annoys him for some reason because he  _knows_  Kuroko has secrets. Izuki wants them – wants them for himself, for safekeeping. Because Kuroko is his friend too.

Kagami, on the other hand, is an open book. Always saying what he thinks and acting impulsively, constantly wearing his heart on his sleeve, Kagami Taiga is too honest for his own good. Reading him is so easy it’s almost boring. But the secrets he hides are priceless and Izuki clings to them possessively. He greedily absorbs the dazed and confused looks Kagami casts on Kuroko’s turned back, the unconsciously lingering touches Kagami himself doesn’t seem to notice. Izuki finds it as endearing as painful to watch, and if he wasn’t such a good friend he would let Kagami in on this little secret.

For some reason, the more Izuki observes Kagami, the more he notices Kuroko, as if Kagami was a mirror reflecting him. Izuki can see clearly now – in a shared look, in a faint blush, in a fleeting touch – what secrets Kuroko keeps. It makes Izuki feel old and nostalgic in a ridiculously cliché way. It must feel good to be young, he thinks with a smile and distracts himself with coming up with a fitting pun. He never really forgives Kuroko for causing him so much trouble with acquiring his secret, so he feels like being mean from time to time; nothing dangerous, just a bit of mischief for Izuki’s own childish satisfaction.

“They’re cute like a couple,” he says.

And if he’s the only one that laughs, it’s okay.


	6. Want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagami loved Kuroko

Kagami loved Kuroko. As much as it shocked him at first and continued to amaze him ever since, there was no changing that. And it scared him shitless, like tons of other things involving Kuroko. But what scared him the most was how much he  _wanted_  this. Forever even. That’s partly why he never let them get passed kissing, paradoxically. Countless times he felt Kuroko push, but he never pulled. He was always too awkward, too afraid of doing something wrong, making it bad for Kuroko just by being himself.

He wasn’t nervous all the time though. Kuroko’s patience seemed almost infinite and he made Kagami feel at ease. His presence and his body were comforting and Taiga loved their quiet moments; just like this one, when they simply shared space and warmth, wrapped around each other. Kuroko’s head was resting against his chest and his hair were tickling his chin as they dozed off in front of a muted TV after a hard practice, with Kuroko’s even breathing was lulling him to sleep.

“Kagami-kun,” mumbled Kuroko sleepily out of the sudden. “Can I confess something?”

Taiga only grunted in response, wrapping his arms tighter around Kuroko.

“Please don’t be mad, Kagami-kun, but sometimes I think you don’t want me.”

“What are you even talking about, idiot,” Taiga muttered, kissing Kuroko’s hair. “You’re  _all_  I want.”

Even Kagami could allow himself to say embarrassing things when he knew Kuroko wasn’t looking at him. The drawback was that after hearing said embarrassing things Kuroko  _always_ changed his position to do exactly that. Taiga was still flushed lightly when Kuroko’s eyes bored into his.

“Kagami-kun is all I want too,” he said.

Taiga forced down the urge to turn away awkwardly and smiled lopsidedly. Kuroko sighed in mild annoyance before burrowing his face into Kagami’s chest. He was warm and pliant in Taiga’s hands and he yawned involuntarily before scrunching up his nose with dismay. It made Kagami chuckle. He held on to the remnants of consciousness, having a feeling that Kuroko wasn’t finished. As expected, he lifted his face again and looked at Taiga with a frown.

“But Kagami-kun doesn’t  _want_  me. Doesn’t want to have sex with me. Is it because-” When he motioned his hand in general direction of his crotch, Kagami barked out a laugh and Kuroko pouted. “Please don’t make fun of me.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m not,” said Kagami, pulling Kuroko back into his arms and yawning. “You’re fine, Kuroko, I promise. You’re perfect.” He sighed contentedly when their bodies were comfortable slotted together again. “You’re a little too perfect. It’s actually intimidating. I want- I want to be perfect too. For you. You have to trust me on this, okay? Just wait a little bit longer.”

When Kuroko didn’t say anything, Kagami pulled him by the chin and kissed him once, but hard enough to make it a promise.

“You have no idea how much I want you,” he whispered against his lips. “ _I_  can even barely wrap my head around it…”

“I beg to differ, Kagami-kun,” muttered Kuroko, nuzzling against Taiga’s neck sleepily. "My cognitive skills are far more superior than yours.”

If Kagami wasn’t so sleepy he would probably punch Kuroko in the head but he only snorted, lazily kicking Kuroko’s ankle. “Don’t be a smart-ass or I will never put out.”

“So mean, Kagami-kun…”

If Kuroko wanted to say something else, he didn’t quite manage it before falling asleep. So Taiga let himself drift off too. They had all the time in the world for other things.


	7. Situation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagami needs help from the Skittles. Crack ensues.

Kagami hated his life. He had done something the previous night that Kuroko reacted to _weirdly_. Kagami suspected it meant Kuroko didn’t like what Kagami did. He couldn’t be sure but the reaction was _really_ weird, nothing he’d seen Kuroko do _ever_ and he wouldn’t talk to him about it afterwards.

Kagami didn’t know what to do. Except of course, and it was the main reason why he hated his life, asking Kuroko’s skittles friends for advice. If he swallowed his pride and asked each one of them what their boyfriends reacted like when they did something they didn’t like, maybe it would clear some things about his situation with Kuroko. Kagami really hated his life.

He called Kise first; he seemed like the type selfish enough to do _lots_ of things his boyfriend didn’t like.

“Kagamicchi?”

“Kise, what does Kasamatsu do when you do something he doesn’t like? You know, sexually.”

“He kicks me really hard in the face,” replied Kise lightly. “Why? What happened?”

Kagami muttered some excuse before hanging up and calling Midorima.

“There is no sexual practice that Takao dislikes,” claimed Midorima.

“For real? You sound like you’ve tried literally everything.”

“Sex is his hobby.”

Kagami groaned in defeat and tried Murasakibara next.

“I’m sleeping, Kaga-chin, I’ll crush you…”

Kagami was about to cut to the chase when he heard Himuro asking sleepily who was calling. And then it hit him. He was going to ask about his own _brother’s_ sex life! He hang up abruptly and dropped the phone like it burned him.

Kagami hid his face in his hands and whined. He saved the worst for last and he was currently debating who he should call first, Aomine or Akashi. He decided it was much less embarrassing to ask Akashi, even considering the fact he was banging Kagami’s own teammate.

“You have ten seconds before losing the shred of my interest you’re currently holding.”

“What does Furi do when you do something he doesn’t like, sexually,” he blurted out hoping that the following silence wasn’t going to get him dead.

“He _learns_ to like it.”

“Right. Thanks.”

Kagami was close to tears. None of the skittles were helpful in the least. He _really_ didn’t want to call Aomine. But he was really desperate too and Aomine did know Kuroko best.

“What is it Bakagami?”

“Shut up, Ahomine. I have a situation. What does Sakurai do when you do something he doesn’t like in bed?”

“Huuuuh? He apologizes, I guess…”

Kagami sighed. “Why doesn’t it surprise me…”

“Why do you ask? What did you do? What did _Testu_ do?”

Kagami could hear the amusement and curiosity in Aomine’s voice and it took all his willpower not to hang up. He gritted his teeth and breathed heavily through his nose; Aomine chuckled.

“Hey, we’re bros, man. You can tell me. Maybe I could help out. Worst case scenario, I could get a hold of Satsuki’s data or something. She claims to have all the answers.”

Kagami was suspicious. “You wouldn’t do that for me, not for free. Where’s the catch?”

“Nowhere, man, I’m just bored enough. And I really wanna know how you failed at life this time. Spill.”

That was more like Aomine. “Alright. But if _anyone_ hears about this they will never find your body. So we were fooling around last night, you know, with clothes still on and all. And then- I did something and Kuroko went completely rigid, like- he froze and then he sprung out of bed and locked himself in the bathroom. He wouldn’t talk to me _at all_. So I just went home.”

“Okay, that is weird,” admitted Aomine. “But I can’t interpret this without knowing what you did. Come on, man, tell me. It can’t be _that_ perverted, you don’t have it in you.”

Kagami clenched his jaw and rubbed his temple. Aomine would never let him live this down, Kagami knew that, but he was literally his only hope. He took a deep breath and blurted out the answer.

“What? I didn’t catch that.”

“I said I rubbed my ass on his dick, dammit!”

Aomine burst out with laughter; Kagami was pretty sure he was crying with it. He waited it out, regretting every day of his life ever since he met Kuroko.

“Oh man,” gasped Aomine when he finally stopped cackling. “So you want Tetsu to fuck you up the ass, huh? Who would’ve thought…”

Kagami spluttered at Aomine’s teasing tone. “Shut the fuck up! It’s none of your business! Just tell me what’s with the reaction to that! What kind of guy doesn’t like the feel of an ass on his dick!”

Aomine seemed to consider. “There isn’t one,” he decided finally. “There’s your answer.”

“What? Don’t fuck around, Ahomine, for once in your life, I’m desperate here!”

“Geez, calm your tits, I just told you. There isn’t a guy who doesn’t like that. Tetsu didn’t dislike it either. He probably came in his pants just from that and was too embarrassed to face you.”

Kagami gaped dumbly. “That… that makes sense, actually…”

“See? I can be helpful. But I’m not fucking charity, you loser, so as a reward I’m gonna tell all this to Satsuki and we’ll laugh for twenty years together. See ya!”

With that, Aomine hung up and Kagami banged his head on the table. He hated his life. 


	8. Valentine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little bit early but i won't be home tomorrow to post it so happy valentine's day :)

“Would you please come out already, Kagami-kun?” said Kuroko in a scornful tone, as if he wasn’t the one to blame for the situation!

“Go away!”

Kagami was currently locked in one of the bathroom stalls, rubbing his sore cheek. Damn, that girl was tiny but she sure knew how to throw a punch.

“Why are you sulking, Kagami-kun?” asked Kuroko accusingly. “I even apologized properly.”

“Properly, my ass!” cried Kagami, restraining himself from opening the door and strangling Kuroko. “You didn’t sound sorry at all!”

Kuroko hummed thoughtfully on the other side of the door.

“It is true that I don’t believe I have anything to be sorry for,” he said.

“Do you even remember the same event?!” demanded Kagami angrily.

“I saved you.”

“What?!”

Kagami banged his fist against the door. He was _this_ close to getting out and committing murder.

“A girl wanted to give me a box of chocolates and you used Ignite Pass on it! She cried and she _punched_ me! How is that saving me?!”

“I thought it was poisoned,” replied Kuroko calmly.

“There’s no way it was poison, idiot, and you know it! Go away, I don’t wanna see you.”

“Kagami-kun is being unreasonable. I was only protecting what’s mine.”

At that, Kagami lost the last shred of his patience and swung the door open, towering over the unimpressed Kuroko.

“What did you just say, bastard?”

“Kagami-kun is mine, I won’t hand him over to anyone,” said Kuroko, looking at Kagami defiantly.

As Kuroko’s words sunk in, Kagami’s eyes went wide in shock and his face turned bright red. He flailed indignantly, trying to grab the door and shut it again, shielding himself from Kuroko.

“What are you doing, Kagami-kun?”

“Go away! How can you say embarrassing things like that?”

“Because they are true.”

“Die!”

Kuroko grunted softly in impatience, but didn’t say anything else. Kagami sighed with relief. Maybe he would go away. Perhaps sitting on a toilet seat with his head in his hands and blushing seven different shades of red wasn’t the most graceful moment in Kagami’s history, but it wasn’t like anyone would see him. Or so Kagami thought until Kuroko’s face appeared in the gap between the floor and the door, his blank eyes boring into Kagami’s mortified face.

“Be my valentine, Kagami-kun.”

Kagami spluttered, torn between kicking Kuroko in the face and flushing himself down the toilet to hide his own embarrassment.

“No!”

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Yes.”

Kagami groaned in frustration, grabbing his hair. He was _not_ going to get dragged into Kuroko’s childish mind games!

“I’m going to kill you! I was punched because of you!”

“I will kiss it better, then.”

The retort died on Kagami’s lips as his breath was punched out of his lungs. He didn’t think his face could get any hotter but somehow it did. It became hard to breathe and his vision blurred, his head swimming from the heat in his entire body. Kuroko blinked up at him, confused by Kagami’s reaction.

“Step away from the door,” he mumbled softly.

Kuroko frowned slightly before his face disappeared. Kagami tried to calm his breathing, wringing his hands before unlocking the door with shaking fingers. After a moment, the door was opened and Kuroko’s smirking face filled Kagami’s vision. Goddammit. He regretted his decision already.


	9. Tights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> superhero AU

„Kagami-kun is despicable,” said Kuroko in a flat tone, wiping sweat off his forehead. “How can you say I’m the worst superhero, when I have just intercepted a villain?”

Kagami scoffed dismissively and patted his partner’s back, causing him to stagger and nearly fall face-first into the sidewalk – which proved his point, at least in his own mind.

“You  _assisted_  at inter-” Kagami waved his hand irritably, clearly already forgetting the word. “I did all the-  _catching._ ”

Kuroko scowled. “But you wouldn’t have done any  _catching_ , as you eloquently put it, without my assistance, isn’t it correct?”

“Of course I would have managed by myself, idiot! I’m tall, strong, I fight like a natural,  _and_  I look good in tights. All you do is make villains trip over you and pass out afterwards for me to drag your sorry ass to safety.”

“Kagami-kun should more be careful with his insults,” threatened Kuroko without a beat. “If you hurt my feelings and make me feel redundant I may become vengeful and turn to villainy.”

Kagami pretended to consider with a long hum, trying to hide his amusement. “You are shady enough but I doubt you’re capable of stealing anything,” he said, leaning down to catch a glimpse of his partner’s reaction. When Kuroko looked up with a frown, Kagami felt a blush rising to his cheeks, because a stupidly lame line about stealing hearts rattled against his brain. He quickly willed it away. “But you sure are good at getting caught, mister bait. Hey, that should be your name: Bait-Man!”

He laughed at his own joke and quickened his pace. Kuroko was silent behind him, which wasn’t really anything unusual, but somehow it felt different this time. Kagami worried for a second that he went too far in their banter but then Kuroko caught up to him, determination painting his features.

“I admit that Kagami-kun is an invaluable when it comes to, how should I put it, throwing mindless punches. However, reducing  _me_ , the brains of this operation, if you allow me to use words you can understand, to the role of  _distraction_  is simply unacceptable. On our next mission, I will prove to you that I am more than capable of fighting alone.  _And_  those tights make your backside look abnormally large.”

Kagami spluttered indignantly, immediately starting to crane his neck to see if his ass did look big. But as Kuroko stormed past him, an angry flush on his cheeks, it hit him. He grinned so widely that it hurt.

“So you  _were_  checking my ass, I knew it!”


	10. Nigou

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: hm hm kuroko noticed that kagami got used to nigou, but he keeps freaking out because it amuses kuroko.

Kuroko is confused. This is his confused face. Not that anyone could tell because his confused face looks just like his hungry face and his bored face and sometimes his happy face too. Either way, he’s confused. The thing is, he literally just saw Kagami-kun rub Nigou’s belly in the locker room before the practice. But now he’s holding this cute fluffy ball of puppiness in Kagami-kun’s face and the guy is completely losing his shit, flailing and shrieking like a five years old girl.

“Get that flea infested hairball out of my personal space, idiot!”

“Nigou is very clean, Kagami-kun. It was a very hurtful thing to say.”

“Whatever, just keep it away from me.”

And with that, Kagami-kun is gone. Remember this face – it’s Kuroko’s confused face.

He has to admit that Kagami-kun’s reactions to Nigou are the highlight of Kuroko’s days. Well, next to everything else Kagami-kun does – from playing basketball, through eating like a pig, to trying to crush Kuroko’s head. Yeah, Kuroko might have it bad; no one’s ever said he has a good taste in men. Anyway it’s incredibly cute how this big dumb pile of muscles and anger management issues squeaks like a terrified mouse when Nigou is around. It makes Kuroko’s knees go weak to be honest. But it might be conditioned, you know, like Kuroko makes himself love it so he doesn’t feel sad about the fact that Kagami-kun simply hates his adorable dog. So he was really happy when he saw Kagami-kun petting Nigou and now he’s just confused. You can already tell by the face.

And this happens again and again and again; Kuroko catching a glimpse of Kagami-kun getting chummy with Nigou only to have his usual horrified reaction when Kuroko is present.

“My Bakagami sense is tingling,” he mutters into Nigou’s neck.

“What did you say, bastard? How many times to I have to tell you I don’t want this mutt anywhere near me?”

Kuroko is a bit annoyed now; it’s probably hard to tell since his annoyed face and confused face are similar. But Kagami-kun is lying to him and it hurts and Kuroko doesn’t like that at all. He makes sure the pout on his mouth is visible when he looks right at Kagami.

“Kagami-kun is lying. I have seen Kagami-kun petting Nigou. Several times. Kagami-kun is just being trundere when I’m around. Why is that?”

“Did you spend too much time in the sun? There’s no way I’d be touching this dog, idiot. You must have-”

“Nigou, sick’em!”

This time Kagami-kun does yelp in surprise as Nigous leaps at him with a happy bark but it only last a second and as soon as the puppy lands in Kagami’s arms, he is having his ears scratched gently. Kagami-kun sighs heavily in defeat and shrugs.

“Fine, you caught me. I don’t actually have a problem with Nigou anymore.”

Kuroko frowns. He doesn’t understand anything, he can only feel his stomach sink with disappointment and dread.

“Why would Kagami-kun pretend to hate him and watch me try so hard to make you like him? Was it to make fun of me?”

“What?! No! I thought you got off on me freaking out! You always look so pleased with yourself whenever I react to Nigou in a way you think is hilarious. I was just- Ugh, never mind! Take the dog and- Ugh!”

Kuroko accepts Nigou from Kagami’s hands and watches, transfixed, the blush rising in Kagami’s cheeks as he scratches his own head. He can feel his own breath quicken in excitement and he doesn’t even know why. Sometimes he hates all the ways Kagami-kun makes him feel just by being a Bakagami.

“It’s just- Half the time we spend together is basketball, right? And the rest is just you trying to make me like the damn dog you love so much because it personally offends you that someone could think it’s not the seventh wonder of the world. I just thought- I thought that if you didn’t have to do that anymore you- I thought you wouldn’t want to spend this time with me.”

Kagami-kun looks pathetic, blushing furiously and scowling petulantly with his ridiculous brows drawn together and Kuroko is even more in love. All he can do is shake his head in disbelief.

“Stupid Kagami-kun.”

“Oi!”

“If I knew I didn’t have to waste my time on getting you used to Nigou, I would spend our time together in better ways.”

Kuroko’s heart skips a bit as he notices Kagami-kun’s blush deepen. They watch each other intently for a while until Nigou becomes impatient and starts whining softly and straining towards Kagami. It causes them both to move closer to each other and their feet are almost touching now. Kagami-kun pets the soft hair on Nigou’s neck and lowers his head, craning his neck to look Kuroko in the eye.

“What better ways?” he asks softly in a low voice.

Kuroko is surprised he’s still able to stand. He lifts his head slightly and he knows that if he would stand on his toes and Kagami would duck his head just a bit more they could be kissing. His heart is hammering in his chest and he feels lightheaded like in the middle of a game but he wants this; he wants it so bad. He closes his eyes and strains up only to have his mouth full of Nigou’s hair. As his eyes snap open he sees Kagami spluttering violently as Nigou licks his face.

“I think I’m gonna go back to hating this damn dog!”

Kuroko can’t help but laugh. This is his happy face. Get used to it. 


	11. Sex Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Himuro thinks he needs to give Kagami the sex talk

„Honestly, Tatsuya, are you sure you want to waste your weekend on making an idiot out of yourself?”

Himuro clicked his tongue, irritated. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Alex. I’m here to offer a friend the sex talk he clearly needs.”

Alex flopped herself down on Kagami’s couch and pouted. They were supposed to go shopping, not following Tatsuya’s delusions. She never got to see him and when he finally came to visit it was Taiga this, Kuroko-kun that. Tatsuya was clearly childishly jealous of their relationship; nothing malicious, just petulant rivalry. Himuro liked to be the best at everything, and that apparently included being Taiga’s friends. Alex supposed she should be happy they were on good terms again, but he wouldn’t let her kiss him even once!

“I’m telling you, you’re wrong. They’re not dating. Taiga is too much of a basketball idiot for romance.”

“And I’m telling you they are. And precisely because Taiga is such a basketball idiot he probably thinks he can get Kuroko-kun pregnant with kissing.”

Alex groaned. “I refuse to believe Taiga would be interested in anything except basketball. He doesn’t even have porn mags! Trust me, I checked.”

“Sure he does,” said Himuro with a chuckle. “You just don’t know they’re porn mags.”

Alex raised her eyebrows in confusion and looked over at the coffee table where Tatsuya was pointing at basketball magazines. She spluttered and covered her eyes with her hands.

“I swear to God, Tatsuya! How can I unsee! Oh, poor innocent me!”

Himuro’s laughter was drown out by Taiga yelling at Kuroko as they walked into the apartment. They stopped mid-track and Kagami gaped at his “guests” with open mouth.

“Good morning, Alex-san, Himuro-san,” said Kuroko with a slight bow, polite as always.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” boomed Taiga. “ALEX, DID YOU STEAL THE KEY AGAIN?!”

Alex only stuck her tongue out cutely and beckoned them inside. Kagami grumbled for a while longer while they were taking off their shoes but soon he put a hand on the small of Kuroko’s back and gently pushed him in the direction of the living room. There was something in this simple touch that caught her attention and Alex reluctantly admitted to herself that there might have been some truth in Tatsuya’s words. She couldn’t hold back the thoughtful hum and she  _knew_ Tatsuya was smirking.

“Well, what do you want,” mumbled Taiga grumpily.

“Ah, Taiga, aren’t you happy to see us?” asked Himuro with mock hurt. “Or did we interrupt your date?”

Alex expected Kagami to splutter and blush in embarrassment – she has seen him do so for less – but he only frowned, eyes never leaving Tatsuya.

“None of your business, but yeah, actually. So what are you doing here?”

Alex whistled at the scene, torn between feeling slightly worried and extremely fascinated. She startled when she felt the couch dip under someone’s weight next to her; Kuroko sat down silently and offered her a small smile.

“Well, I was in town, as they say, and decided to pay you a visit, catch up a bit,” drawled Himuro. “But if you’re busy with Kuroko-kun then…”

“No, Kagami-kun should definitely talk to Himuro-san,” interrupted Kuroko. “You never see each other anymore, you should use the precious time together wisely. I don’t mind spending the afternoon with Alex-san. I actually look forward to it.”

Alex’s eyes widened automatically, because how much of a total sweetheart can you possibly be! She threw her arms around the kid’s neck and rubbed their cheeks together, telling him over and over again how cute he was.

“Are you sure, Kuroko?” asked Taiga cautiously.

“Of course, Kagami-kun. Please, don’t worry.”

Kagami nodded stiffly and pointed a warning finger at Alex. “If she tries to kiss you, sucker-punch her without hesitation.”

Himuro thanked Kuroko with a sweet smile as he followed Kagami to his room, closing the door behind them. Kuroko sighed softly and gently pulled himself out of Alex’s arms.

“Do you mind telling me what you’re really doing here, Alex-san?”

Alex grinned. “Nothing goes past you, eh, kid? Tatsuya thought we should give you guys the sex talk.”

“I see,” hummed Kuroko with a nod. “I don’t need one though.”

“I sure hope so, because I wouldn’t know how to give you one, haha! I honestly had no idea you guys were together! You don’t act differently at all. Not much of a PDA fans, huh?”

“Kagami-kun gets embarrassed easily. Besides, relationships of this… nature are better kept secret.”

Alex nodded, crossing her arms. Kuroko reached for his bag and let out his dog, immediately showering it with affection. His face wasn’t expressing much, but there was a slight smile visible in the corners of his mouth and the crinkle in his eyes made Alex want to smooch the lights out of him.

“You’re a cute kid, you know. Well-mannered and smart. You probably don’t have a single mean bone in you. Aren’t you, kind of… too good for Taiga?”

“Alex-san shouldn’t talk badly about her student like that. I promise not to tell Kagami-kun if you promise not to do it again.”

Alex laughed happily. Hell, why shouldn’t she be? Her precious Taiga was so loved! When the dog leapt from Kuroko’s to her lap, she decided to pour all of her affection for Kuroko onto that fluffy ball, mindful of Taiga’s warning. But then the door to Taiga’s room slammed open and the boy burst out of there like it was on fire. His face certainly was. He looked at Kuroko with huge eyes, his lip quivering.

“Kuroko. We. Are. Never. Having. Sex.”

Kuroko blinked slowly and Alex scratched her head as Kagami unceremoniously walked out of the apartment. Tatsuya soon emerged out of the room and smiled at them sweetly.

“Oops?” he offered. “I might have messed up?”

“Damn it, Tatsuya, what did you do?!” demanded Alex. “Tied him up and showed him STD pictures?!”

Himuro shrugged. “I might have gotten a  _bit_  technical, I think? I would  _never_  think that would be the outcome. I sincerely  _apologize_ , Kuroko-kun. It might take you a while to convince Taiga to have sex, but I’m  _sure_  you’ll manage somehow…”

“Alex-san, does Himuro-san sound sorry to you?” asked Kuroko after a moment, a wild gleam in his eye.

“Not at all,” said Alex truthfully.

He knew her students, and Tatsuya was clearly testing Kuroko’s limits, that brat. He found herself hoping that Kuroko did, in fact, have some mean bones in him, because little Himuro deserved a lesson. Kuroko only nodded and fished out his phone, going through his contacts list unhurriedly. As he put the phone to his ear, he bored his eyes into Tatsuya’s face and didn’t even blink.

“Hello, Murasakibara-kun? Sniffle-sniffle. Help me, Murasakibara-kun. Himuro-san just came over and said he’s going to take Kagami-kun away from me and keep him for himself. Sniffle-sniffle.”

Alex had to physically cover her mouth to hold back the laughter. She had never seen Tatsuya’s eyes so wide and so filled with absolute horror. Kuroko ended the call and smiled good-naturedly. Almost immediately Tatsuya’s phone started ringing and he blushed furiously, fumbling to take the phone out of his pocket. His eyes widened even more upon seeing the caller ID and he left the apartment without even excusing himself.

“This is so much better than shopping,” said Alex with a happy sigh and ruffled Kuroko’s hair. 


	12. Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nigou is injured the team tries to comfort Kuroko

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> really it's just gen with kagami's horrible people skills

When Kagami enters the locker room he almost trips over his own feet, startled by Kuroko sitting quietly on the bench with his head hanging low.

“You scared me!” he accuses.

“I wasn’t even doing anything,” Kuroko snaps back.

All the alarms in Kagami’s head go off at once – Kuroko dropping the polite speech is never a good sign. Kagami carefully approaches his friend and puts a cautious hand on his shoulder. Kuroko looks up at him with tired bloodshot eyes and sighs. Crap.

“Wh- what happened. Did someone… die?”

The rest of the team decides to barge in before Kagami can get an answer and immediately circles them like a bunch of overprotective hens.

“Bakagami, did you make Kuroko-kun cry?!”

“Shame on you, Kagami. We could understand  _girls_ , but this?”

“That’s tear-ible! Gosh, I’m tearing up myself. I’m so good at this.”

“Everyone shut up!” booms Kagami.” _Especially_  Izuki-senpai. I found him like this, I swear! Kuroko, what the hell happened?”

Kuroko sniffles softly and as soon as Kagami instinctively leans in a bit, he throws his arm around his neck and lets out a broken sound.

“Nigou had an accident,” he says quietly, dejected and not even trying to hide the tremor in his voice.

Riko gasps audibly and Kagami is surprised he can even hear it over the thundering roar of the blood in his ears. Kuroko is clutching at his shoulders desperately and Kagami can’t do anything but to awkwardly hug him back.

He can’t even imagine what Kuroko must feel and he really hopes someone says something comforting soon because Kagami  _sucks_  at things like that. He wants to be supportive, he really does, but he has no idea  _how_. Knowing his luck he’ll accidentally say something really insensitive and Kuroko will hate him. Why is no one saying anything?!

Kuroko pulls away to look Kagami in the eye and he gulps under the tentative gaze.

“Is it… dead?” he asks finally and  _really_  hopes he does sound concerned; he said some mean things about the demon dog in his time but he never wished it any harm.

The team collectively groans in embarrassment for Kagami’s tact. Well, they should have said something themselves, dammit.

“No, Kagami-kun, he’s- he’ll be-“

As voice fails Kuroko, Riko instantly materializes by his side and puts her arms around him in a comforting embrace. Kagami stands there, scratching his head and skillfully ignoring all the stares he feels on his back. Riko is listening intently as Kuroko talks about veterinarians, stitches and medicine and Kagami feels a bit sick.

He’s gonna kill that dog if it dies and leaves Kuroko miserable like this. Listening to Riko’s gentle and reassuring words, he decides he probably should never say something like that out loud. How does she even do that? How does she know the right words to say, the appropriate tone to use? How do people do stuff like this? 

Kagami really is just a hopeless basketball idiot…

“Do you want us all to go with you to visit Nigou after practice?” offers Kiyoshi.

“You do want to stay for practice, right?” prompts Hyuuga. “Coach might seem supportive  _now_  but-”

“Can it, Junpei. He can skip it if he wants.”

Everyone cries out in shock and even Kuroko gapes slightly, searching Riko’s face with wide eyes. She just smiles sweetly and pats Kuroko’s cheek.

“I think a distraction and some exercise would actually do you some good but I won’t force you if you don’t feel up to it. We all know how much Nigou means to you.”

“Thank you, Aida-san. And everyone else, of course. It would mean a lot to me if you decided to visit Nigou with me. Naturally, I will attend practice and attempt to spend it properly to the best of my ability.”

“Oh thank God, the stiff speech is back,” blurts out Kagami suddenly.

He’s so relieved he can’t hold back but another collective groan fills the locker room so he guesses he should have kept the joy to himself. Then Kuroko snorts softly in amusement and Kagami’s heart almost jumps out of his ribcage. Ha! He, Kagami Taiga, did that! He made Kuroko laugh! Suck on  _that_ , team! Wait, why was he so happy about it?!

“Kagami-kun is truly despicable.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come here.”

Kuroko obediently steps into Kagami’s space and lets himself be hugged again. His breath is hot on Kagami’s chest but the hands clutching his sides are no longer shaking. Kagami pulls away slighty and ruffles the blue hair affectionately.

“He’s gonna be alright,” he says and pretends not to notice how Kuroko’s eyes light up at Kagami not calling the dog  _it_.

“Yes.”


	13. Cat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> based on darkii's headcanon about Kagami being a cat person and Kuroko being allergic

"Just look at it!"

Kuroko shook his head violently and covered his eye with a basketball, making Kagami roll his eyes.

"You can’t make me, Kagami-kun."

"You do know that’s not how allergies work, right? It’s just a picture."

"I can’t look. I will be slain."

Kagami groaned and tried to pry Kuroko’s fingers off the ball. The guy had surprisingly firm grip when he wanted to, so it took Kagami a while but he finally managed to throw the ball across the room. But by the time he turned back to Kuroko, he already put his face into his hands.

"No, Kagami-kun. I won’t."

"Why are you being so stubborn, Kuroko? You make me  _play_  with Nigou but you won’t even  _look_  at Himuro’s cat? It’s unfair.”

Kagami grabbed Kuroko’s wrists but instead of pulling on them, he gentry rubbed them with his thumbs, humming encouragingly. 

"Kagami-kun is the one being unfair."

The desperate whine in Kuroko’s voice made him chuckle. “How so?”

"Kagami-kun knows I can’t be around cats."

"That’s why I said it’s only a pict-"

Suddenly, Kuroko pulled his hands from his face and looked at Kagami with teary eyes, causing Kagami to gulp in panic.

"But I will be killed if I see Kagami-kun looking at the picture and see the longing in Kagami-kun’s eyes and the sad smile Kagami-kun always wears when he thinks about cats and-"

Kuroko paused to take a deep breath and he was probably going to continue but he slumped down Kagami’s chest all of the sudden, completely drained of energy. Kagami patted his back and sighed.

"It’s fine," he muttered. "I know. Don’t get so worked up over it."

Kuroko shook his head again, rubbing his forehead on Kagami’s neck. ”But Kagami-kun loves cats so much… I want Kagami-kun to be happy,” he mumbled into Kagami’s skin.

"Come on, don’t be over-dramatic… A cat won’t make me happier than you do."

Kuroko tensed in his arms, clutching at his shirt. Kagami could feel the heat radiating off his face.

"Kagami-kun always says such embarrassing things."

Kagami grinned into Kuroko’s hair ignoring his own blush. “You’re the one to talk…”

Kuroko wriggled a bit and wrapped his arms around Kagami’s middle, sighing heavily and Kagami waited patiently for him to calm down. He never really expected Kuroko to feel so guilty about the matter; it wasn’t even his fault that he was allergic. Sure, Kagami wanted a cat, but the choice between a pet and a boyfriend was rather obvious.

"I have decided," said Kuroko suddenly, lifting his head to look Kagami in the eye. "When I get home tonight, I will talk to my parents about the treatment for my allergy."

Kagami’s eyes widened at that and he gaped unattractively as Kuroko continued to ramble about savings and part time jobs. Before he knew it, he was shutting Kuroko up with a kiss and promptly hiding his face in his neck. He could feel Kuroko smiling against his cheek and he couldn’t stop his own grin.

"Will Kagami-kun show me the picture now?"


	14. Tropes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> based on this bingo chart (it should send you to the post when you click the picture)

[ ](http://wingroad.tumblr.com/post/80685614919/so-i-made-my-own)

kuroko and kagami just finished their daily session of wild sex in their yaoi dungeon when aomine started banging on the door.

“i was his first haha you fucking loser kagami” said aomine.

all of the sudden himuro appeared next to him and high fived him even though they didn’t even know each other but they bonded over the shared experience of being evil ex-boyfriends. suddenly the entire GOM showed up with the unmistakable air of protectiveness around them.

“leave kurkocchi alone” cried kise. “cant u see how much trouble we went through to get them together we all worked so hard!”

kuroko was fuming because so many people were breathing the same air as his kagami. he was seized with jealousy and rightfully so because aomine managed to sneak kagami a hand job once when kuroko wasn’t looking.

kagami cried that day because his innocence was stolen against his will as he protested passionately until he stopped because he realized it was what he wanted from the beginning.

if kuroko knew about this he would surely organize an orgy with his old middle school harem to get back at kagami. he knew they allowed them both to date only because they hoped the orgies would continue but with the addition of kagami.

“i will make dinner for everyone let me just wear my pink apron on my naked body”

kuroko looked at akashi for permission even though it was kagami who was actually about to serve them like a good wife. but today was the day when kuroko was the ultimate uke so he had to act accordingly. if they visited the next day he would be the dom master but there was no point in sulking.

especially considering that aomine was snapping at kagami for stealing and defiling his innocent testu. kuroko had to act and fast before anyone thought that he was anything other than a sex expert.

but then kagami pushed aomine away and took kuroko in his arms hiding him from the view of others possessively. of course aomine swooped in and a fight between him and kagami over kuroko surprised no one.

“only i can inflict pain on kagami-kun” said kuroko with empty eyes and aomine back off under the absolute pressure of yandere.

then akashi grabbed kuroko’s dick saying he loved him and kuroko had to obey in the name of true love.

“where is our team kuroko” wondered kagami out of the blue.

“we have a team?” mused kuroko and shrugged.

himuro kicked kuroko then just because he was a jerk and started making out with murasakibara. that prompted everybody to start out with everybody else and kuroko had the orgy he didn’t know he wanted.

“who will fuck aomine next?” asked midorima and kuroko started crying.


	15. Touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lol i forgot to post it

Kuroko has always been looking, greedily taking in the sight and imagining what it would feel like to touch. When he is finally allowed to, his hands are shaking. He rakes his fingers down the hard ridges of Kagami’s stomach and slowly drags his palms back up. He wants his hands surgically attached to those pecks. He doesn’t know how to feel about Kagami not touching him back. Does he not want to?

Kuroko wonders absently why someone so absolutely stunning would want to touch him. He briefly thinks of Kagami with someone attractive, like Aomine-kun. He feels a pang of pain in his chest and hates Aomine irrationally for a moment. His hands are moving rhythmically with every rise and fall of Kagami’s chest as he takes shallow, ragged breaths.

Kuroko lifts his eyes to take in Kagami’s face – there is blush dusting his cheeks and he’s frowning, eyes boring into him.

“Kuroko… are you feeling up my boobs?”

“Ye.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> doesnt work that well without a read more :(


	16. Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagami loses Kuroko in the mall

When Kagami turned around to ask Kuroko about something and discovered the boy has vanished from his side, his stomach sank against his better judgment. Sure, the mall was unusually crowded but Kuroko wasn’t five, right? If he survived the Japanese Lunch Time Rush, surely he would be okay in a shopping mall. Right?

This was ridiculous. He should just call him and ask where he was. Maybe tell him off for disappearing. Why wasn’t he picking up? Damn it, Kuroko. Where could he go? When exactly did Kagami lose him? How long it actually took him to even notice Kuroko was gone? 

Kagami was the shittiest boyfriend in history.

He tried calling again but Kuroko still wasn’t picking up. Kagami tried to think of places that could catch Kuroko’s attention along the way, but they’d already been to sports shop and in the bookstore. They never actually went anywhere else, Kuroko was very determined to eat only in Maji Burger – he was very faithful to their shakes.

Kagami briefly considered calling Momoi but he dismissed immediately; if anyone would freak out more about losing Kuroko than Kagami, it was her.

“Why are you standing here like that, Kagami-kun?”

Kagami startled but he was so ridiculously relieved he didn’t even think about yelling at Kuroko. He grabbed Kuroko by the shoulders and pulled him close, smashing the impassive face against his chest.

“Never do that again,” he sighed out, tightening his grip.

Kuroko mumbled something unintelligible against his chest and Kagami huffed out a laugh as he pulled away.

“Kagami-kun, you’re ridiculous.”

“I know,” he admitted awkwardly. “I just kinda panicked.”

Kuroko blinked slowly, as Kagami scratched his head, before finally smiling. “Thank you for worrying, Kagami-kun. It’s very sweet and chivalrous.”

Kagami spluttered in embarrassment and decided to hide it by scolding Kuroko for taking off without telling him. He didn’t even know what he was saying, but it must have been pretty pathetically unreasonable, judging by Kuroko’s knowing smirk.

“I apologize, Kagami-kun,” said Kuroko with a dreamy sigh. “But Puppies. So many of them. So clumsy and small. I couldn’t look away. I could shamelessly admire them for half an hour because no one noticed me. I was so happy.”

Kagami gulped. Shit, he hadn’t noticed Kuroko was gone for entire thirty minutes? Shittiest. Boyfriend. Ever. As cowardly as it was, he decided to let Kuroko off the hook before the tables turned and Kagami was the one getting scolded.

“Yeah, yeah, fine. Just don’t do it again.”

“Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> psst he just went to the bathroom and was gone six minutes


	17. Dating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagami is so bad at this

Okay let’s get one thing straight. Kagami was bad at this. Like, really bad; offensively so. But what can you expect from someone whose life so far had revolved around food, sleep and basketball? That’s right - you can expect they’d be bad at dating.

Well, he was dating someone who kind of knew him better than he knew himself so that was a plus. Kagami couldn’t imagine Kuroko expecting anything more than awkwardness from him. Which was good. Kind of.

Kuroko was unsettlingly patient with him which was something Kagami wasn’t used to,  _at all_. Kuroko was always pushing, he never pulled punches, was always one step ahead of Kagami and never waited too long for him to catch up.

But not when it came to dating, apparently. It wasn’t that Kuroko passively waited for Kagami to get his head in the game, on the contrary. He was the one to confess and the one to instigate their first kiss and everything. But it was about the  _timing_. It was kind of like Kagami was unconsciously sending some okay-go signals and Kuroko wouldn’t do anything until he received them.

It was weird, and it wasn’t. It was Kuroko, after all.

But on Kagami’s part, their dating kind of looked like not-dating at all. He’d be perfectly happy if all their dates took place in Maji Burger. Come to think of it, all their dates did take place there. God, he was so bad at it.

He never touched Kuroko differently, didn’t say anything out of ordinary, he had completely no idea how to behave in any other way than he always had. He knew in theory what people who date did. They giggled and looked at each other dreamily while eating ice cream. Or something like that. And Kagami could easily imagine becoming the best basketball player in Japan, but he couldn’t imagine doing those things with Kuroko.

Did it mean he didn’t actually like him? He was pretty sure he did, but then again, he was kind of an idiot. But dating was all about long walk on the beach, right? He wanted to cuddle on his couch, kiss Kuroko and touch his hair for no reason. He even wanted hold his hand. Not that he ever had, because how do you even go about reaching out for someone’s hand and just  _holding_  it. It sounded really complicated to him.

He looked at own hand for a moment before letting it drop back against his side. Kuroko was walking beside him with his hands in his pockets and it made Kagami feel weird for some reason. He suddenly felt offended, like maybe Kuroko didn’t even want to hold his hand, ever. That would suck because Kagami wanted to hold Kuroko’s hand very much.

He just didn’t know how to do it.

He huffed and put his hands in his pockets too. He could live without hand-holding. Hand-holding was dangerously close to giggles and ice cream anyway. That would be weird, no wonder Kuroko didn’t want that. Kagami shouldn’t be sulking about it, he should be celebrating – they were on the same page. Right?

He startled when he felt a small warm hand sneak into his pocket. He gulped as Kuroko intertwined their fingers and his heart hammered in his chest. Wow, he was really bad at it.

A very unromantically pragmatic thought crossed Kagami’s mind – that it must have been uncomfortable for Kuroko to twist his arm like that due to their height difference. So he took their joint hands out of his pocket and slipped them into Kuroko’s, glancing at him for reaction. Kuroko was seemingly impassively looking ahead, but there was a faint blush spreading on his cheeks.

Heh, maybe he wasn’t that bad at it, after all.


	18. First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex sends Kagami out on his first date

When Kagami walked out of his room and passed Alex on his way to the door, she almost choked on the smell of his shower gel. She turned off the TV and looked at her student.

“Why aren’t you smelling like a dirty teenager you are?” she demanded.

Kagami spluttered and muttered something she couldn’t quite catch. She took in the sight of Taiga and had to stand up. Were those actual jeans? What happened to his sweatpants?

“Taiga, is that… Is that a  _clean_  t-shirt? Are you going out?”

Now he wasn’t even spluttering and trying to hide his blush, he just dropped his head and nodded, glancing up to her awkwardly from time to time.

“Yeah, I guess I forgot to tell you. I’m going on a date…?”

And now she had to sit down. She felt old for some reason and that just wouldn’t do. She sprawled her arms on the back of the couch and smirked nastily.

“A date… And you’re going dressed like that?”

“What’s wrong with the way I’m dressed?” he croaked out nervously, eyeing himself in the mirror.

“Well, for one, your t-shirt has sleeves.”

Taiga looked at her in confusion until the realization finally dawned at him. He spluttered indignantly and threw at her the closest thing at hand, which turned out to be his bag. She cackled all the while he yelled at her and threatened to call child services.

“I’m just trying to help! You can’t expect them to be charmed by your winning personality, Taiga! You have to expose your few assets!”

“I hate you,” he grumbled, as Alex continued laughing. “I’m nervous enough as it is, leave me alone!”

“Aw, Tai-chan,” she drawled as she stood up and walked over to him. “You’re so cute, gimme a kiss!”

“No!” he protested more vehemently than usual. “You are not allowed to do that anymore! That… that would be cheating.”

Her arms that were about to rest around Taiga’s shoulders flew to her mouth. “Oh my god,” she mumbled against her hands. “I think I’m gonna melt, this is the most adorable thing since Tatsuya watching  _The Ring_  for the first time!”

“What are you even talking about?!”

Alex smiled softly and patted Kagami’s cheek. “Look at you, all grown up. So who is it? Do I know them? Just tell me it’s not your coach, she’s so flat!”

“Well, my date is even flatter,” muttered Taiga, rubbing the cheek Alex just patted.

“Oh my god,” she wailed theatrically. “Where have I gone wrong?!”

“It’s a guy, okay?” said Taiga defiantly.  “Now can I go?”

“A guy, wow, that narrows it only to, like, half of the population. You’re not going anywhere until I know who it is.”

The relieved sigh Kagami let out was so soft she barely noticed it, but it was there nonetheless. She resisted the urge to pout at how little Taiga thought of her; she couldn’t care less about Kagami’s sexuality, she just wanted him to be happy! But she knew it wasn’t about her in particular, but about bracing oneself for the most common reaction to those kinds of statements. She’d better never see anyone giving her student any shit for who he liked – Alexandra Garcia was definitely too sexy for prison.

“Fine, fine, you can tell me later,” she said with a sigh. “What are you giving him?”

“Giving?”

“Yeah, you know. It’s common courtesy. A gift, like chocolates or flowers.”

“I don’t have anything,” admitted Taiga dejectedly. “I didn’t know…”

Of course he didn’t. He was so cute in his complete cluelessness Alex was going to forever mourn the day she lost the right to smooch him – that little punk who stole her Taiga was going down…

“Well, do you have any money to buy something on the way?” she tried.

Taiga growled and ran his hand down his face. “No, and I don’t have time for this, I’m almost late already. Besides, Kuroko doesn’t car-”

He clasped his hand on his mouth and Alex snorted. Kuroko, huh? Well, that was surprisingly… unsurprising. But it filled her with warm feeling for some reason – they worked so well together on the court she could easily imagine them working just as well outside of it.

“He may be weak and look like a weird blue bird but he still deserves flowers,” she decided.

Kagami groaned. “Dammit, fine!”

Alex expected Taiga to ask her for money, but he just looked around the apartment with an angry scowl. Finally, his eyes landed on something that caught his attention and twisted his mouth into a wry smile.

“That’ll do,” he said and grabbed one of his cacti from the drawer, before unceremoniously walking out the door.

Alex sighed in defeat before flopping back onto the couch. “And the say romance is dead…”


	19. Shower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you know how kagami never notices kuroko at the table right? well then.

Kagami felt twice as dirty when he finished listening to the coach’s lecture. Now not only did he reek of sweat but also of fear with a whiff of humiliation. The lockers were empty by the time she let him out of her clutches so at least he could take a long hot shower in peace to relax a bit. He took his clothes of on the way, haphazardly scattering them on the floor and entered one of the showers. He sigh deeply as the hot water hit his face.

Then someone cleared their throat. Kagami startled and snapped his eyes to the source of the sound. Kuroko stood in front of him in his birthday suit, staring at Kagami through the wet strands of his hair that fell onto his forehead. Kagami’s eyes swiped over Kuroko’s body on instinct before he yelped with the realization of their situation and covered his eyes with his hands.

“I didn’t see anything,” he cried.

“I have,” replied Kuroko calmly.

Kagami yelped again and took his hands off his face to cover his crotch in desperate attempt to salvage his honor. He made a point of looking somewhere right behind Kuroko’s head and hoped that the furious blush on his cheeks could be ascribed to the boiling-hot water currently falling down on him.

“What the hell, Kuroko, when did you get here?!”

“I’ve been here the whole time. I was just walking out of the shower, when Kagami-kun barged in and assaulted my eyes.”

Kagami groaned in pain. “This is the most mortifying moment of my entire life.”

“I’m sure it’s not that bad…”

Kagami could hear the smirk in Kuroko’s voice and he couldn’t help but move his eyes to him and glare. But looking right at the droplets of water slowly rolling down Kuroko’s pink cheeks to his chin made Kagami want to follow them with his eyes, and before he even knew it, he was staring at Kuroko’s bellybutton.

“Kagami-kun is starting,” observed Kuroko calmly.

“Thank you!” shouted Kagami, snapping he head back up. “I got fixed on this drop of water and I couldn’t stop looking and-”

“I think you mean fixated?”

Kagami made a confused noise because what? And was Kuroko’s voice closer than before or was Kagami just being paranoid? What if Kuroko accidentally touched him?! Kagami would literally spontaneously combust. Kuroko made all fuzzy and tingly recently, and not even with twice as much space between them – this was pure torture.

“Fixated, not fixed,” said Kuroko, and yeah, his voice was definitely closer.

Kagami backed up slowly on shaking legs until his back his the wall. “Okay, thanks for that. Shouldn’t you, like, go?”

“Yes, I should,” agreed Kuroko matter-of-factly.

“Good, we’re on the same page then. See you tomorrow!”

Kagami sneaked a side-glance at Kuroko to see if he was indeed leaving the stall and caught Kuroko staring at Kagami’s crotch with a displeased frown. He flushed again, almost toppling over and immediately regretting not falling down and cracking his head open – that would be a mercy kill.

“Don’t look at my dick like it offends you and go, goddammit!”

Kuroko hummed and Kagami could see him leave in the corner of his eye. He sighed with relief at finally being able to take his hands off his junk. He pressed his forehead against the wall and sighed again, for good measure.

“It wasn’t Kagami-kun’s penis that offended me,” said Kuroko from behind the curtain, sounding oddly annoyed. “You Bakagami.”

What Kagami did in response to that was to spun around so fast that he lost balance and fell down on his ass. It was still less painful and confusing than thinking about his teammate being upset with him for not showing him his dick. 


	20. Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroko does what he does best

Kuroko was good at hiding. He could effortlessly go unnoticed at will, and so could his emotions. So of course he never let Kagami-kun know. He never let his yearning and longing slip through the impassive mask.

Kuroko was also good at observing people. He studied their behavior, habits, reactions. So of course he knew. He noticed right away, when Kagami-kun started shifting a bit more awkwardly around him, a bit more away from him.

Kuroko was good at waiting, too. He’d been nothing but patient while striving to achieve his goals. So of course he would wait. He’d wait for Kagami-kun to understand his own feelings and he’d trust him, like he always had.

Kuroko hid, observed, and waited, because that was what he did. But for some reason, it wasn’t enough. Kagami-kun hadn’t taken action, inhibited by factors unknown to Kuroko. Was it fear of rejection? Internal conflict, identity crisis? Kuroko soon realized that it was idiocy. His own, too. Of course, when it came to Kagami-kun, Kuroko should  _show_  and let himself  _be_  observed.

Yet opening up, leaving subtle hints, teasing and taunting carefully – all of that failed. Kuroko was forced to realize then, that the waiting time was over and he had to act. Of course, it proved itself to be easier said than done. Because Kuroko had waited for so long, he became impatient, but because he’d observed so well, he knew he had to be cautious. Kagami-kun was an idiot, after all.

Kuroko felt that the only reasonable course of action would be making some grand gesture to which Kagami-kun was used to by now. It had to be bold in order to be noticed and it had to be clear to avoid misunderstandings. Would confessing straight up work, like when he promised Kagami-kun to make him the best player in Japan on the day they met? Remembering his soon-to-be-light’s initial reaction to that vow made Kuroko reconsider.

So he opted for the next best thing, and then he hid, observed, and waited. He tuned out the expected reaction of their classmates, gathered by the window, pointing outside while whispering excitedly. He took in just one face, Kagami-kun’s, and watched it shift from confusion, to realization, to embarrassment. He waited for a small but persistent smile to stretch Kagami-kun’s lips as he turned away from the window to search for Kuroko with his eyes.

But Kuroko was already there, meeting him halfway, involuntarily relishing the startled, exasperated grunt Kagami-kun was simply bound to let out before grinning crookedly.

“You have some chalk on your sleeve.”


	21. Hunger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> au in which Kuroko is a shadow being who is attracted in Kagami because his "light" (his life force) is so strong and that's what he eats (for the 3 sentence fic meme)

Kuroko could practically feel it on his tongue - the radiant, vibrant,  _scorching_  power emanating from the boy like the brightest of lights. It made him experience hunger he’d never felt before and weren’t it for the years of rigorously training his self-control, Kuroko would devour Kagami right there and then. But he knew very well, that the light could grow even brighter, even stronger, under Kuroko’s influence and once it reached its full potential it would taste better than anything Kuroko had ever eaten before. 


	22. Rehearsal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroko practices his lines with Kagami

“I love you.”

Kuroko’s tone was flat, impassionate, bored even. And yet, it made Kagami shudder and he hated himself for it. His line stuck in his throat as he wondered if Kuroko would put more passion into those words on the stage, his eyes boring into a girl whose name Taiga didn’t bother to remember.

“Kagami-kun, did you forget your line again? Should I ask Furihata-kun to rehearse with me? I know remembering words isn’t your strongest suit.”

“No, it’s fine,” blurted out Taiga. “I’m worried Furihata will get the wrong idea, seeing you’re such a convincing actor. I can just read from the script.”

Kuroko smirked. “What makes you think Furihata-kun would get the  _wrong_  idea?”

Kagami’s stomach sunk. He knew Kuroko was joking, that of all people they knew Furihata as a potential object of affection was placing somewhere between Shuutoku’s coach and Hanamiya Makoto. But it still filled him with irrational jealousy and fear.

“Well then, you’re gonna have to try harder if you want him to believe you,” he managed. “You know the part about you being a good actor was a joke, don’t you?”

“Was it, now?” gasped Kuroko in mock surprise. “I wasn’t aware you were an expert, Kagami-kun. Would you be willing to teach me how to perform properly?”

He didn’t know what those damn butterflies were suddenly doing fluttering all around his stomach and it made him angry. Their banter bordered on flirting for almost as long as he could remember but recently it became more and more difficult not to cross that line and Taiga was exhausted.

“I’m no expert, but idiots are the easiest to convince and I wasn’t convinced at all.”

Kuroko hummed thoughtfully. “In other words, if I won’t be able to convince you, I am doomed as the star of the school’s play. I understand. I will do my best then.”

Kagami scoffed, amused by the idea of Kuroko trying his hardest to put  _fake_  emotion into anything he did. It would be like watching Akashi try and be an actual human being – hilarious but impossible. He couldn’t help but grin when Kuroko shifted on his knees and took several deep breaths, facing him with a serious expression.

“I love you,” he said with determination.

There it was again – the shudder. It was stronger this time, caused by the words combined with Kuroko’s big eyes fixed on him. He wanted to stop this torture but before he knew, Kuroko grasped his hands and moved his face closer to Taiga’s. His eyes were serious but fond, his brows drawn in concentration, and one of his hands soon found its way to Kagami’s cheek.

“I love you,” he repeated, softer this time, gentler, his breath ghosting over Taiga’s face.

And maybe Kagami  _wanted_  to believe him, because he closed his eyes involuntarily and nodded shakily, swallowing the gulp in throat. Kuroko ran a thumb across his cheeks and Taiga couldn’t suppress that damn shudder that spread through his entire body.

“Yeah,” he croaked out finally, clearing his throat. “That’s it. Very, uh- believable. Ah, how do you say it, a stellar performance.”

Kuroko frowned momentarily in confusion before shaking his head. His face smoothed out in a small and fond smile, which he promptly pressed to Kagami’s lips, leaving him stunned and gaping.

“Bakagami,” he whispered against his mouth. “We both know I’m a horrible actor.”


	23. Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagami finds a box with his stuff from Japan

Even at 23, Kagami Taiga was still an idiot. He left his basketball shoes in his locker and now he was looking for his old pair, the one he’d got from Aomine in high school. Out of all the stuff he brought to America with him, the shoes were the only thing he actually  _needed,_ but they were stuffed somewhere at the back of the closet with all the other sentimental clutter.

That was probably the reason why he abandon his plans to play street ball that evening, and found himself going through all the forgotten boxes brought from Japan. The pictures, obviously, caught his attention the most. They all looked to young and invincible, especially him. Trying to spot Kuroko on the photos, hiding behind others or lurking at the edges, proved to be even more entertaining than he initially expected.

He missed him. The unassuming boy with weak presence who changed Taiga’s life.

Kuroko was the only person back in Japan whom he had actively longed for right after moving to the States. He had learned to depend on the boy too much so he felt a bit lost without him. It didn’t last long and, of course, Kuroko indulged him whenever Kagami needed someone to talk to. They kept in touch for almost a year but, eventually, they drifted apart naturally.

Taiga wondered how he was. What did he look like? Where did he live? Did he get married? He wanted to know, but he also didn’t. It was kind of romantic, when he thought about it, that Kuroko would always remain the same in Kagami’s memory. It wasn’t that he stopped caring about him, but they both had their own lives – there was no need to change that.

He used to think he was in love Kuroko, back in high school. It made him chuckle now, even if bitterly. He had never said anything which seemed like a good idea at the time. That was also why he didn’t want to know – too many what if’s and regrets probably. Kuroko was someone special to Kagami. Before, he had always been afraid of ruining what they had. And then… then it was simply too late.

Now, Kagami wasn’t sure what he felt, but he had never felt about anyone the way he used to feel about Kuroko.

He smiled wryly at the small notebook, similar to the one Izuki-senpai used to write his puns in. He slapped his forehead, remembering it was supposed to be a parting gift that he had never opened. Why, he couldn’t remember. Was he too homesick at the beginning and forgot later?

The notebook was titled “Seirin’s Book of Secrets” and it made Taiga laugh fondly. They sure were a dramatic bunch, weren’t they? He flipped through it in search of Mitobe-senpai’s entry, hoping to finally learn the reason why he never spoke, but his secret turned out to be a nipple piercing. Kagami almost cried laughing at the image.

He slowly went through the entire book, rolling his eyes at Izuki’s terrible pun, cringing at the story of Furihata’s most awkward boner, smiling affectionately at Riko’s dream husband material… Eventually he got the last page, involuntarily sucking in a shuddering breath in anticipation of Kuroko’s biggest secret.

_I love Kagami-kun._

Taiga stared at the page without blinking and breathing for so long, he felt tears pricking at the back of his eyes and his chest constrict. He released a half-chuckle, half-sob and rubbed his eyes furiously until they stopped stinging. Then he laughed, because wasn’t it, wasn’t  _he,_  laughable?  

Five years, huh? That was a lot of time wasted. He knew it was too long, he knew he shouldn’t, that he should just leave it be, pretend nothing had changed and go about his life like he had so far…

But it was entirely too easy to find Kuroko on Facebook (still in his friends, ironically) and open the chat. He knew he should have at least taken a glance at the relationship status – something, anything – but his fingers started typing independently of his common sense.

_Want to hear a secret?_

He sent the message and leaned back in his chair, wondering if there was a cure for idiocy.


	24. Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagami doesn't want Kuroko to leave

“Don’t walk out that door, Kuroko,” shouted Kagami desperately. “Don’t you dare!”

Kuroko sighed and turned around to send Kagami a pitiful look. His boyfriend was currently trembling on the couch, wrapped up in blankets so meticulously that only his eyes, wide in fear, were visible. Kuroko couldn’t help but find Kagami’s state equally aggravating and endearing.

On one hand, Kagami agreeing to watch a horror movie with him while being terrified of ghosts was absolutely the cutest and Kuroko would very much want to show his appreciation. On the other, Nigou was whining persistently by the door, reminding Kuroko of his responsibility. He wasn’t particularly keen on the idea of walking his dog out in the middle of the night by himself either, but Nigou had been patient enough already.

“Kagami-kun, I need to walk Nigou out. Unless you want to clean up after him in the morning?”

Kagami whined pathetically, clearly torn. Kuroko rolled his eyes and walked over to the couch, extending his hand for Kagami to grab as soon as he freed his own from the bundle of blankets. His hands were shaking and Kuroko couldn’t decide if he should feel guilty or amused.

“Kagami-kun, I want you to listen to me, very carefully.”

Kagami nodded vehemently, clutching at Kuroko’s hand and glancing around the room in panic. Kuroko rubbed the top of his palm with his thump soothingly and smiled. He knew there was no point in saying that ghosts weren’t real – irrational fears couldn’t be alleviated so easily. He could only assure Kagami he wouldn’t be gone long.

“You have nothing to worry about. I will be gone only ten minutes.”

“I don’t want you to go,” whimpered Kagami.

Kuroko kissed his forehead to distract him while he slipped his hand free and walked over to the door.

“I won’t be far, Kagami-kun,” he promised, opening the door and letting the excited Nigou out. “So don’t worry – I will hear you scream.”

He closed the door behind himself and chuckled at Kagami’s desperate cry. 


	25. Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aomine is a kagakuro shipper

Aomine Daiki is a man on a mission; the mission being finally getting Tetsu and Bakagami together. Call Aomine a hopeless romantic if you will, but he’s just seriously tired of choking on unresolved sexual tension whenever he’s around them. It’s more stifling than Satsuki’s constant supervision, and that’s saying something.

His plan is simple but flawless, with subtlety and finesse worthy of Mai-chan’s photos – while they’re playing two-on-one, he pushes Kagami on Tetsu. Daiki must admit that there is way more blood and a lot less kissing than he anticipated and they kind of don’t talk to him for, like, a week.

Fine, new plan.

He invites them over to play video games and locks them up in his tiny bathroom. When he refuses to let them out, Kagami  _breaks_  them out, literally ripping the door off the hinges, and doesn’t even apologize. Daiki’s mom grounds him for eternity and Satsuki is really mad.

Aomine might need to revise his strategy.

He asks Satsu for advice because she’s the smartest person he knows, but she cries and calls him an idiot and he belatedly remembers that she likes Tetsu too. Ryou is even less of a help, seeing as he almost passes out apologizing for being so inexperienced in the matters of the heart.

This whole thing is starting to get really frustrating and Daiki eventually decides to take one for the team and text Kise. The advice he gets is as good as any but the price is almost too high and Aomine prays it works because there is only so much exposure to Kaijou’s ace he can take.

The next game he plays with Tetsu and Kagami is two-on-two, and Daiki refuses to explain why Kise is joining them. He and Kise obviously win and that’s when Aomine decides to implement The Plan. He asks Tetsu to team up with him next for old times’ sake and the effects are instantaneous.

Oh, sweet, sweet jealousy.

Daiki begins to think that Kise is an actual genius when he teasingly slings his arm around Tetsu’s narrow waist and, seemingly absentmindedly, sneaks his fingers under the hem of his t-shirt – Kagami’s eyes almost pop out of his skull and the color of his cheeks matches his hair.

Then, unfortunately, Tetsu sucker-punches the light out of Aomine. Both he and Kagami leave him whimpering on the ground while Kise wails louder than the sirens of the ambulance he immediately calls. Daiki may be inclined to say that he actually, for the first time, absolutely hates his life.

But he is a generous man and he refuses to give up on the hopeless duo. Even Aomine can’t simply stand by and watch as two people who clearly cannot live without each other insist on remaining completely  oblivious despite everyone around them realizing their feelings for each other.

Cause that’s just lame.

He’s out shopping in the mall with Satsuki and Ryou, doing nothing to suppress his bored yawns, when he catches a glimpse of Kagami in one of the stores. He stops, and while Satsuki doesn’t notice and keeps strolling ahead, Ryou slows in his tracks and sends a curious glance at Daiki.

They just stand there watching Tetsu approach Kagami and present him with some small box. Kagami opens it and his face goes beet red as he splutters and it’s completely pathetic. Daiki decides to find Satsuki before she catches wind of Tetsu or  _he_  snaps and manhandles them into kissing.

The next time he sees them is kind of unexpected because what he was planning to do was to barge into Tetsu’s room and give him a piece of his weary mind, but what he finds upon entering his friend’s bedroom makes him back up with a hand over his eyes and shut the door behind himself.

Tetsu and Kagami. Sitting on the bed. Kissing. On the mouth. Daiki thinks he saw Tetsu’s hand on Kagami’s  _knee._  Oh God, what if he goes blind now? His entire career smashed to pieces by two horny teenagers! Gross! Inappropriate!  _Indecent!_  How stupid of him to ever want this atrocity to happen!

He can’t watch this so he leaves.

As it soon turns out, the newly-formed couple is every bit as disgustingly into the public display of affection as Aomine predicted. Everyone acts like they don’t even notice that Kagami and Tetsu just keep  _looking_  and  _talking_  and  _smiling_  and stuff. Gross, inappropriate, and indecent.

Aomine Daiki is a man on a mission; the mission being finally getting Testu and Bakagami to break up.


	26. Cheating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroko is very unforgiving

“What happened doesn’t change anything,” said Taiga.

“It changes everything, though, Kagami-kun,” replied Kuroko flatly. “You should know that.”

Kagami cursed under his breath, wiping his sweaty palms on his shorts; his hands were shaking. Kuroko wasn’t even looking at him and it nearly made Taiga break down and cry. He reached for Kuroko’s hand in a hopeless attempt to make him look at him, made him  _see_  how sorry he was. But Kuroko flinched away and scowled at him.

“You cheated, Kagami-kun.”

Kagami whined helplessly and clenched his fists before letting his anger take over and grabbing Kuroko’s shoulder to spin him around. Kuroko’s eyebrows shot up in surprise but soon his scowl returned. Taiga groaned in defeat.

“It’s not my  _fault_  she does that, okay?! She’s a maniac, she can’t be stopped! Do you think I  _enjoyed_ that? It was like kissing my mother, only even  _worse!_  I can’t believe you plan on holding it against me! You’re evil, but not that evil, come  _on!_ ”

Kuroko huffed, and Kagami barely stopped himself from finding the nearest flat surface to smash his own head against. He let go of Kuroko and sighed, comforting himself with plotting his extremely painful revenge on Alex.

Suddenly, Kuroko clicked his tongue and shoved at Taiga’s shoulder. Kagami didn’t react – he figured Kuroko could do whatever he wanted to vent, it wasn’t like he could inflict a real injury.

“Stupid Kagami-kun. Letting down his guard so easily. I am disappointed.”

Kagami frowned in embarrassment, but Kuroko’s features softened, which made Taiga release a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. But before he could fully sigh in relief, Kuroko pulled on his ear to force him to lean down.

He pouted at Kagami’s confused expression, then, and used his sleeve to scrub his defiled mouth before kissing them briefly. He shoved Taiga’s face away after that and resumed his pouting, but Kagami couldn’t stop grinning. 


	27. Cooking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroko simply doesn't belong in the kitchen

Taiga couldn’t really do anything but gape when he got back home to find Kuroko in the kitchen, his apron, hands, cheeks, and even hair, covered in unidentified substances. The kitchen itself seemed more or less intact, which would suggest that Kuroko was systematically wiping his culinary failures on himself.

“Are… are you cooking?” he stammered, stifling a laugh.

Kuroko puffed out his cheeks, frowning. “Kagami-kun was taking too long. I was hungry.”

Kagami grinned and leaned in to kiss the pout of Kuroko’s face, tasting a bit salty sauce. Kuroko sighed deeply and seemed to relax. Taiga shook his head – he never understood why Kuroko insisted on trying his hand at cooking when it clearly stressed him so much.

“Need help?”

“No, I’m done. Wash your hands, Kagami-kun, and sit.”

Kagami kissed him once more before going to the bathroom. When he came back, the table was set for two, and Kuroko was trying to scrub his hands and arms clean in the kitchen sink. When he sat down, Taiga noticed he missed a spot on his chin and reached out over the table to wipe it for him, if only just to see Kuroko scowl in embarrassment.

He dodged the rag that Kuroko threw at him in retaliation and grabbed the fork, grinning. His smile threatened to fall immediately after putting the food in his mouth, but Kagami managed a sound that sounded more like a pleasant surprise and less like a mortified shock.

“It’s good,” he choked out.

Of course, Kuroko narrowed his eyes at him in suspicion, carefully tasting the food. His eyes widened in horror and he dropped the fork on his plate, jumping to his feet and spitting the content of his mouth to the sink.

“It’s horrible.”

Taiga winced, as he swallowed, and rubbed his neck awkwardly. “Well, it’s just a bit too much salt, I think?”

Kuroko spun around, looking at Kagami in disbelief. Taiga sighed and walked over to Kuroko, ruffling his hair comfortingly. Kuroko whined petulantly, wrapping his arms around Kagami’s middle and hid his face in his chest.

“This is worse than anything the coach had ever served us,” he complained.

Kagami _had to_ agree, but he really didn’t want to. “I’d eat it anyway.”

Kuroko groaned before lifting his head and looking at Taiga. His cheeks were flushed and he had that look on his face like he couldn’t believe Kagami was even real.

“I love you,” he said.

Taiga flushed in embarrassment and pushed Kuroko’s head back into his chest. “Y-yeah. You too.”


	28. Blind Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagami can't say no

Kagami’s two major problems were that he was an idiot and that he couldn’t say no. That was what he would like to say but, in all honesty, his two major problems were Alexandra Garcia and Tatsuya Himuro. It obviously helped that Taiga was an idiot who couldn’t say no.

He should never have mentioned his hopeless crush on Aomine’s cute friend to any of them – perhaps then they wouldn’t feel obliged to find him a blind consolation date, and then forcibly drag him on the site.

“We promised him you’d agree,” said Tatsuya. “You don’t want to make us into liars now, do you?”

Alex nodded sagely. “It’s just one date! Try not to humiliate yourself too much. Remember, striped shirt, blue eyes. Have fun~!”

Kagami grumbled, wondering how he ended up on a date with a guy who liked wearing stripes, and reluctantly went inside the café. It was nice – not too crowded, the music wasn’t too invasive, a pretty girl behind the counter. He looked around in search of his date, but he couldn’t spot anyone matching Alex’s description.

“Kagami-kun.”

He jumped, startled, and spun around, looking down at the source of voice. His eyes widened in shock and he felt himself blush when he saw Kuroko Tetsuya standing in front of him.  _Why?_  Why was his crush here, of all places, when Taiga was about to have a date with a stranger he didn’t even want to date?

“Kuroko?! What are you doing here? How long have you-” he babbled, making Kuroko smile.

“A while. Shall we?”

Taiga frowned in confusion as Kuroko was straining his neck in search of a place to sit, before the realization finally dawned on him. Kuroko had blue eyes. Kuroko was wearing a striped shirt. Kuroko was here.

 _Oh God,_  Alex and Tatsuya had set him up on a date with his crush and they  _lied_  when they said that  _he_ had insisted on having coffee together.  _Oh God._

“Are you alright, Kagami-kun?”

He nodded stiffly, swallowing around the lump in his throat and followed Kuroko to the table on wobbly legs. He reached for the menu as soon as they sat down, just to have something to do with his sweaty hands and somewhere to hide from Kuroko’s politely concerned gaze. He wanted to say something normal, like maybe how nice Kuroko’s damn striped shirt was, but his mouth voiced his concerns before his brain could stop it.

“They put you up to this, didn’t they?” he blurted out and cursed inwardly when Kuroko’s brows drew closer together in confusion.

Taiga couldn’t help but second-guess this whole thing. He and Kuroko had met on several occasions but there was never any indication of Kuroko being even remotely interested in Kagami. The simple conclusion was that Tatsuya and Alex had somehow convinced the poor guy to go on a pity date with him – there was no other explanation.

“What do you mean, Kagami-kun?” asked Kuroko calmly. “Did Alex-san not tell you-”

“What they  _told_  me,” he interrupted, rubbing his forehead with a shaking hand, “is that some guy really wanted to go out for a coffee. What they didn’t tell me is that it was you and they forced you to do this.”

Kuroko was looking at him with an unreadable expression for a moment before sighing softly and dropping his eyes to the table. If Kagami hadn’t been a complete nervous wreck before, he certainly was now.

“It’s true,” admitted Kuroko finally. “I didn’t want to go out for coffee.”

Taiga nodded curtly, pretending his stomach didn’t just sink. “Y-yeah…”

“I’m here for the vanilla milkshake.”

Kagami blinked at the menu before lifting his eyes to Kuroko’s face. A small smirk was dancing on his lips, making his eyes crinkle playfully and Taiga almost spontaneously combusted at the sight. He swallowed, trying to wrap his head around the fact that Kuroko honestly wanted to be here and his friends didn’t actually try to ruin his life.

“Are you surprised that I conspired with your friends to get a date with you, Kagami-kun?”

“No! Yes… I don’t know? You just don’t strike me as someone who chases after guys…”

Kuroko chuckled. “Well. Kagami-kun doesn’t strike me as someone who shows his interest in somebody by looking incredibly angry whenever he’s not ignoring them altogether…”

Kagami cringed. That was a pretty fitting description of his seduction techniques and didn’t it make Taiga want to disappear from the face of the planet. Kuroko laughed again, pulling Kagami out of his mortified daze, and propped his cheek on his hand. He looked at Kagami with a slightly exasperated fondness that made something in Taiga’s stomach twist pleasantly.

“So,” he continued with a teasing smile. “While I can’t say I do chase after men, since it’s Kagami-kun, I have decided to power-walk.”


	29. Lab partner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroko is the worst lab partner imaginable

Having Kuroko Tetsuya for a lab partner was probably the worst thing that happened to Taiga. Not that he wasn’t a competent worker, no. He was never late, his reports were meticulous, and he liked working in silence. A perfect lab partner, really, except the fact that he had literally no presence and that was the disastrous part.

Ever since Kuroko had joined him in the lab, nearly half of Kagami’s actual work was sweeping the floor and redoing his tasks.  Kuroko would appear out of freaking nowhere right behind his back and startle the shit out of Taiga, causing him to drop whatever important research object he was currently holding. Every. Damn. Time.

“I should put a fucking bell on you,” he grumbled, as he crouched to pick up the glass.

Kuroko knelt down to help him. “I think I’m too vanilla for collars, Kagami-kun. But if you insist…”

Taiga cringed, feeling his face getting hot. Oh, right. Another reason why Kuroko was the worst lab partner was the he said shit like that all the time. And yes, Kagami was weak – weak to the deadpan tone used for shameless flirting, to the big blue eyes that were smiling teasingly instead of Kuroko’s lips. He was very weak.

Not only did Kuroko weaken his resolve and will-power, but he turned him into a pervert. Taiga always considered himself to have a healthy sex drive, but if he had to put himself on a scale, he would definitely place closer to a blushing virgin than a slut. At least, that was the case before meeting Kuroko.

 _Now,_  he daydreamed about throwing their research off the table and fucking Kuroko on it, with their lab coats still on and all. Which only ended up in Kagami getting too flustered to work properly and going home early to jerk off. If Kuroko suspected anything, he sure was good at hiding it, and everything about Taiga’s life was just plain  _sad._

“Kagami-kun,” said Kuroko suddenly.

He should have been prepared, he  _knew_  Kuroko was right there, but it still startled him enough to sway on his feet and barely balance the plate full of glass shards. He sighed in frustration, sending Kuroko an accusing glare.

“I apologize,” continued Kuroko. “I do feel bad about constantly hindering your work like that.”

Taiga didn’t like the sound of that at all – it sounded like something you would say right before saying that you applied for a transfer. He opened his mouth to protest, but the words got stuck in his throat. What could he say to make Kuroko stay? They weren’t even friends, and they both could effectively do their lab work elsewhere, with other people.

“I know my lack of presence is at fault, it’s been a problem for me for as long as I can remember. That’s why, I think it would be best to-”

“I don’t want you to transfer!” blurted out Kagami before he could stop himself.

Kuroko was looking at him with slightly raised eyebrows. “I’m very happy to hear that, but that isn’t what I was going to say, Kagami-kun.”

Taiga released a relieved sigh and chuckled to himself, too embarrassed to even look at Kuroko. They were silent for a moment before Kuroko stepped into his personal space and slid his hand up Kagami’s arm. Taiga shivered, surprised, and snapped his head down to look at Kuroko. He wasn’t looking at him, but at his own fingers playing with the hem of Taiga’s coat, a faint blush covering his cheeks.

“I thought that… We should get Kagami-kun more used to me… by spending more time together… outside of the lab.”

Kagami’s throat went so dry he wouldn’t be able to reply even if he tried. Kuroko huffed softly, clearly exasperated with his own nervousness, and it made Taiga’s stomach flip. He shifted slightly, lessening the space between them, and hoped it would be enough to urge Kuroko to continue. It was.

“Wouldn’t you agree, Kagami-kun? Developing resistance through… sheer exposure…”

Kagami nearly went cross-eyed because damn him if it didn’t sound dirty coming out of Kuroko’s mouth. He closed his eyes, breathing through his nose, and nodded stiffly. Or, at least, he thought he did. He swallowed and looked down at Kuroko, willing his mouth to work.

“H-how very scientific. C-could work.”


	30. Stuff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagami is inexplicably upset about something.

“Please, don’t look at me like that, Kagami-kun.”

Kagami scoffed dismissively, his back still turned to Kuroko. “Like what?”

Tetsuya could feel his brow twitch with annoyance. Kagami-kun was many things, but a good liar wasn’t one of them. He was clearly upset and blamed Kuroko for something but refused to say what it was. He just kept casting Tetsuya those suspicious glances and deflecting whenever Kuroko tried to confront him. It was tiring and frustrating, and Tetsuya was on the verge of taking drastic steps.

“Have I done something wrong, Kagami-kun?” he tried again, watching Kagami’s back tense.

“You didn’t do anything.”

Kuroko winced at the dry tone and the way in which Kagami stressed the last word. It must have been about something Kuroko hasn’t done, then. He frowned in concentration, raking his mind – has he forgotten about something, like a birthday or a date of similar importance? – but there was nothing he could think of.

“Kagami-kun, I would appreciate it if you just   _told_  me what is troubling you and we could resolve this conflict. I find the current situation and your attitude towards me unpleasant.”

He ended his speech with a stern nod and Kagami-kun was silent for a long moment before finally sighing and turning around to face Tetsuya. He was scowling and made small, aborted noises and vague hand gestures for a while. Kuroko waited patiently and was finally rewarded with one mumbled world – _girl._

As the realization dawned on Tetsuya, his breath hitched in his throat. Was the reason for Kagami-kun’s horrible mood the brief conversation Kuroko had had with a female classmate two days ago? It was such a preposterous thing it was almost endearing. Tetsuya somehow held back a relieved chuckle and leveled Kagami-kun with a forcedly serious gaze.

“Are you perhaps jealous, Kagami-kun?”

“What?” screeched Kagami, letting out a fake laugh. “Jealous? No! What gave you that idea? I’m just curious! Are you, like, dating now? Won’t you have less time for basketball? And… stuff?”

Kuroko bit down on his lip to stop himself from grinning. “ _Stuff?_ ”

“Yeah, like. Stuff. Majibu and. Movie Fridays. And Street Basket Sundays. And-”

“So… the stuff you were referring to is  _you,_  Kagami-kun.”

Kagami yelped, blushing furiously. “No! Well, kind of?  _So?!_  Look, are you dating her, or not?”

Kuroko sighed. Granted, he had never expected much from Kagami-kun in the romance department, but he certainly wasn’t prepared for this level of obliviousness. If you asked Tetsuya for his opinion, he has been dating for a while now, yes, but  _Kagami-kun_ , not a girl who once asked him if he knew anyone from the volleyball club.

However, if Kagami-kun was not of the same opinion, clearly, Kuroko would have to work on changing it, and rather quickly. Gathering from the obvious distress the situation was causing Kagami-kun, the poor boy would eventually fall ill from worry about things that should not be of any concern to him at all.

For, now Tetsuya would simply get rid of one problem, which was Kagami-kun’s ridiculous suspicion. The relief that almost visibly washed over Kagami was a true test of Kuroko’s willpower, but he remained silent on the other matter – given the apparent depths of Kagami-kun’s denial, Tetsuya needed much more time and much more intense preparation.

But he would, eventually, help Kagami-kun realize the actual nature of their relationship. Eventually.


	31. Surprise!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroko outs their relationship on Kagami's birthday

There were countless ways of coming out to your friends. Some were better than others, of course, but Kuroko chose the worst possible one. They’ve been dating since the end of the last year of high school and it has been a rather well-kept secret until Kagami’s twentieth birthday. It wasn’t that they planned on hiding it forever – Taiga has imagined telling their friends many times.

He had assumed it would be embarrassing, granted, but nothing like  _this._

He always thought he’d get them one at a time, or at least in very small groups, and  _ease_  them into it. What happened instead, was Kuroko getting drunk on Kagami’s birthday party, putting a basketball under his shirt and saying “I’m pregnant and it’s yours.” Then, he promptly collapsed on Taiga in a mad fit of giggles and started kissing him  _really sloppily_  in front of all of their friends.

Kagami could have never anticipated anything like  _that._

The silence that followed was so awkward Taiga was sure he would have heard actual  _cicadas_  if his ears weren’t ringing so loudly. Kuroko was currently nuzzling at Kagami’s neck, humming contentedly and apparently getting ready to sleep, while approximately fifteen of their mutual friends were staring at them in complete silence.

“It’s not what it looks like?” tried Taiga desperately.

Tatsuya was the first one to speak. “Well, this is certainly awkward. We were hoping he would at least wait until we were  _all_  drunk before doing something to make us all uncomfortable.”

“Oh, come on,” blurted out Aomine suddenly, hiccupping. “You’re not really surprised that Tetsu’s a total lightweight, right? Should’ve been drinking faster, man.” He hiccupped again, covering his mouth with the back of his hand. “See? _I_ sure don’t care.”

Momoi giggled. “That’s because you’re a lightweight too, Dai-chan. You haven’t drunk  _that_  much…”

Everyone laughed at that, and while Aomine was trying to rip out Momoi’s hair, they went back to whatever they were doing earlier. Meanwhile, Taiga just sat there and gaped, still immobilized by his sleeping deadweight of a boyfriend. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to think or feel about his friends completely ignoring his compromising position, but Kuroko looked perfectly content and peaceful.

Perhaps that was the appropriate reaction after all, but Taiga couldn’t help but stare suspiciously at everyone, wondering how they’d found out or why they’d never admitted to knowing. The whole situation was less mortifying than Kagami expected, maybe because he didn’t actually have to  _say_  anything out loud. It was a great relief, too, actually – finally getting it all out there and learning how accepting his friends were. 

Suddenly, he felt Kuroko stir in his lap and sigh in exasperation, so he glanced down and let out an amused snort at the way Kuroko blinked, half in confusion, half in annoyance.

“Kagami-kun,” he croaked. “Why do I feel like I have done something really inappropriate?”

Taiga grinned. He briefly considered telling Kuroko exactly what he did, just to embarrass him, but he was a warm, pliant weight that Kagami wanted to keep for now. He smirked, rubbing his nose against Kuroko’s hairline and letting out a small chuckle at the way it made his boyfriend squirm. Kuroko looked at him, his nose scrunched and cheeks pink, and sighed again, instinctively snuggling closer and burying his face in Taiga’s neck.

Kagami smiled and tightened his arm around Kuroko’s shoulder, looking around the room once more. He snorted when he noticed that basketball sitting in the corner, and shook his head when Kuroko made a questioning noise.

“Nah,” he said. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”


	32. Shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shopping for bras can be very illuminating

Taiga was panicking.

She and Kuroko often went shopping together, and it was an innocent enough practice, but when Kuroko took her to an underwear store, Taiga had to draw the line. What if Kuroko wanted to ask her opinion?! On her boobs. In a lacy bra. What  _if._

Entertaining horrifying thoughts of the sort and imagining countless mortifying possible scenarios, Taiga didn’t notice that Kuroko was talking to her until the smaller girl jabbed her in the ribs, causing her to jump up with an undignified yelp.

“I swear, I don’t know anything about bras!” she cried desperately. “I don’t even know what they’re for! Never seen one in my life! Please, don’t ask me!”

Kuroko looked at her impassively, but the corners of her lips quivered. “You’re so weird, Kagami-san…”

Taiga swallowed, feeling herself blush, and nodded dumbly, averting her eyes. To save herself from further humiliation, she grabbed the nearest set and hid in the changing room. She didn’t feel like fitting any underwear, but she had to be somewhere else than Kuroko – a space safe from Taiga’s crush in lingerie. She startled when Kuroko unceremoniously walked in, handing Taiga another set.

“Forgive me, Kagami-san, but I noticed you picked a size that is too small for you.”

Taiga blinked stupidly, comparing the two sets and silently agreeing with Kuroko – she really did pick the wrong size. Kuroko bowed slightly before backing off towards the door, and Taiga reflexively mirrored her action, ducking her head while staring dumbly ahead. She cringed at her own pathetic behavior and Kuroko chuckled, shaking her head fondly. For some reason, she lingered, forgetting about leaving the fitting room, and Taiga felt the urge to fill the awkward silence.

“H-how do you even know the size of my boobs?” she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.

Kuroko flinched, her eyes widening, and blushed instantly, turning around to leave in haste. Taiga was about to stop her, but she stopped on her own just before walking out, and looked at Taiga with an unreadable expression. Finally, she bit her lip and dropped her eyes to the floor, her entire face pink.

“I watch them a lot,” she whispered and left even faster than Taiga’s jaw could drop.


	33. Digesting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroko ate too much.

Kuroko groaned in pain, slowly rolling from his side to his back. Kagami snorted, causing him to pout and make a half-hearted attempt to hit his boyfriend, but his fist dropped lifelessly on the floor between them before it could reach Kagami’s arm.

“This is no laughing matter, Kagami-kun,” muttered Tetsuya childishly, trying to drag his hand back to his side. “I think I broke it.”

Kagami rolled his eyes, laying down on his side next to Kuroko. “You can’t _break_  your stomach. It’s not a bone.”

“Does not seem to bother you when you claim you have broken your brain from studying too much,” pointed out Kuroko. “I should have never agreed to help you. I should have known Kagami-kun had no conscience.”

“You never complained about my cooking before,” noticed Kagami, poking Tetsuya’s forehead. “Come on, I didn’t make you eat  _that_  much.”

Kuroko sent Kagami a pointedly blank look, hoping it would make it clear enough that their definitions of “much” were completely different. Kagami conceded after a moment and sighed in defeat.

“Fine, fine,” he mumbled. “What can I do to make it up to you?”

“I want a belly rub,” decided Kuroko immediately, turning back to his side.

It startled a laugh out of Kagami. “What are you, Nigou?”

“Then I want a kiss  _and_  a belly rub.”

Kagami blushed, dropping his eyes to the side, mumbling something about complete lack of shame. Tetsuya waited patiently and, predictably, he soon felt a hesitant hand creep onto his stomach, rubbing gently. Kuroko lifted his eyes and looked at Kagami’s flushed face.

His own cheeks were getting hot too, because no matter how good he was at keeping a straight face, he was almost as easily embarrassed as Kagami-kun. He refused to let him know, of course, so he took a deep breath through his nose and looked at his boyfriend defiantly.

“Now my kiss, Kagami-kun,” he demanded.

His heart skipped a beat when Kagami closed his eyes and leaned in. He instinctively knew that Kuroko would close the gap between them, and their lips met in a soft kiss, still salty from the meal they’ve just eaten. Tetsuya let his own eyes flutter close too, and focused on the warmth he felt, both from the kiss and the gentle movements of Kagami’s hand on his stomach.

Soon, the warmth turned into heat, and he pulled away suddenly, worried that he would start wishing for things to progress in a completely different direction. He frowned, narrowing his eyes at Kagami-kun, who blinked at him in complete confusion. Tetsuya tried not to be upset about the fact that his was the only mind that  _wandered_  in moments like this; Kagami was a gentleman, after all, and so innocent that Kuroko almost felt guilty about tricking him like that. Almost.

“You can’t fool me, Kagami-kun,” he deadpanned, angling away. “If this hand goes any lower, I  _will_  tell Nigou to bite it off.” 


	34. Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "im pretending to be ur bf bc u looked v uncomfortable w that guy hitting on u" au

Kagami sometimes hated Tatsuya. He could understand being late five minutes, ten maybe, but twenty five was simply rude. He finished his drink and reached for his wallet, ready to leave, when he got a text from Tatsuya, telling him to wait just ten more minutes, twenty tops. Taiga groaned, shaking his head, and ordered another drink. Before he could pay, some guy placed a bill on the counter. He grinned when Taiga rose his eyebrows in surprise.

“I’ll take care of that~” he drawled, winking.

Taiga rolled his eyes but forced a smile before facing him. “Thanks, but I’m waiting for someone.”

“I’ve never heard that one before… Come on, don’t be like that.”

Kagami frowned, annoyed with the guy’s persistence. He could never understand people who thought they were irresistible just because they were fairly attractive. Taiga slid the money back to him, trying his best to look like his decision was final. They guy seemed undeterred and, amazingly, moved even closer to Kagami. Taiga leaned back, his eyebrows almost at his hairline, and choked out a chuckle.

“Look, I said I’m waiting for someone.”

“Maybe you do, but they’re not here, and I am~”

Kagami outright laughed at that, about to physically shove the guy away, damn the consequences, when he felt someone put their hand on his shoulder. Normally, Taiga would startle (because what the hell, where did he come from?!) but he almost sighed in relief instead – his friend was finally here.

“Sorry I’m late,” said the man behind him, who was decidedly  _not_  Tatsuya.

Kagami turned his head around and only saw a blur of blue hair before a pair of soft lips pressed against his cheek in a chaste kiss. He instantly blushed, letting out a soft yelp, and the stranger pulled away with the tiniest of smirks. The man previously pestering Taiga clicked his tongue in annoyance and huffed angrily before leaving.

“I hope I haven’t imposed too much,” said the man softly. “But you looked really uncomfortable and I didn’t know what else to do.”

Kagami stared dumbly at the man. He was smiling softly, unthreatingly, but part of it might have been that he seemed so small, compared to Taiga. He had a nice face, nice eyes, and nice hands, and Kagami definitely wouldn’t mind just sitting there and looking at him, but he had to be cautious – he might as well have traded one creep for another.

“It seems like your admirer is gone. I should leave you as well.”

The man smiled one more time and turned around to leave, just like that, and it didn’t seem right. Taiga didn’t even have the chance to thank him, or say _anything at all,_  for that matter. For some reason, despite the horrible embarrassment, and despite the fact that he just wasn’t that kind of person who did things like that, he  _wanted_  to talk to that man. On a crazy whim, before the mop of blue hair could disappear in the crowd, Kagami called out.

“Wait, he…” he started awkwardly, ducking his head. “He could, you know, come back. Or… something…”

The man stopped and turned around, looking at Taiga with an unreadable expression. Kagami could feel the tiny shreds of his confidence physically leaving him the longer the man just stood there and  _stared._  Finally, he smiled softly, and Taiga released a breath he didn’t even know he was holding.

“Well,” said the man. “Better safe than sorry.”


	35. Window washer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a window washer au~

Taiga actually liked being a window washer. It wasn’t rocket science, it paid okay, he could hang on the phone all day with no one to tell him off, and the view was breathtaking – once he was up high enough, and turned away from the window he was supposed to be cleaning. Despite his initial worries that he might witness things that could change his forever, most people kept their blinds and curtains closed. So far, the worst thing he’s seen was a kid picking his buggers while staring at Kagami very intently; Tatsuya cried when Taiga told him about it.

Even waking up at crack ass of dawn stopped bothering him after a while – by the time Alex called him every morning at precisely six-thirty, he was already in full gear. She started calling in hopes to hear about perverts to entertain herself during lunch, but she continued the tradition even after finding out how actually boring Kagami’s job was. Her excuse was that she didn’t want to miss anything, but Taiga knew she was just an sad old sap.

She was just complaining about the awful juice she started drinking to “cleanse” herself, when Kagami was methodically cleaning the window. In the back of his mind, he was aware that the blinds were open, but he still wasn’t prepared for what he saw. A guy, stark naked, hair still wet from the shower, strolled across the living room to the kitchen, seemingly oblivious to Taiga’s presence behind the window.

“Holy shit,” he blurted out, nearly losing his balance. “This guy just walked by the window, completely naked. I’ll never unsee that.”

Alex cackled madly, choking on her juice. “Oh my god! Did he see you? Describe him! Was he old and saggy and made want to jump?”

“No, he was actually… pretty hot,” he admitted, blushing.

Alex whistled. “So you don’t really want to unsee it, huh~”

Kagami’s blush deepened at her teasing tone and his hand froze in place as he mind wandered. He really wasn’t staring, he barely caught a glimpse, really, but it seemed that the guy’s body was burned into his retinas. It was small and pale, but looked strong; Taiga swallowed, remembering the shift of the hard muscles under skin when the guy stretched. Shit, that train of thought was anything but safe, especially considering the guy was yet to come back from the kitchen.

Shaking the lingering images off, Kagami decided to speed up and move to another window where, hopefully, the curtains were going to be closed. Alex kept whining in his ear, demanding live commentary, but Taiga was too focused keeping the dangerous thoughts at bay to even tell her to get lost. He was so immersed in it, actually, that he didn’t notice the owner of the apartment standing on the other side of the window. When he finally did, he startled and flailed, nearly losing balance, while the guy stared at him impassively, now fully clothed.

“Hello,” he offered after opening the window.

Kagami cleared his throat, absently fixing his tank top. “Uh, hi. I didn’t see you naked.”

The guy smirked, just barely, and nodded. “Well, that’s a relief. I’d be very embarrassed.”

Taiga felt his entire body growing hot. The lie in the guy’s voice was blatant – he knew Kagami saw him and Taiga definitely wanted to jump now. He tried to bare the insistent gaze sliding slowly all over his body, because he knew it was payback (at least he had his clothes on), but it turned out to be too much for him.

“I’m gonna jump now,” he decided.

Thy guy chuckled softly. “Please, don’t. It would be a terrible waste. To the cleaning company, I mean. I will let you go back to work now, I just wanted to make sure you weren’t unnecessarily feeling guilty. Of course, I apologize for any unseemly sights you may or may not have seen because I carelessly forgot to close the blinds.”

All Kagami could do was nod dumbly as the guy closed the window, casting one last appreciative glance at Taiga before closing the blinds. Kagami released a breath he didn’t know he was holding and slowly sat down, rubbing his face. That was possible the most mortifying experience of his entire life and he was going to have to quit his job now; he really liked this job. He reluctantly got up on his feet, getting back to work.

“You’re pathetic,” said Alex suddenly into his ear, clearly munching on something.

Taiga flailed again, realizing she had been on the line the entire time, and barely caught balance. As he stared down onto the street and wondered what could he possibly say to her in response, he only half-wished he  _had_  fallen down.


	36. Shirts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroko wants to fix Kagami's wardrobe

Kagami raised an eyebrow and eyed the pile of clothes suspiciously before shifting his gaze to his boyfriend. Kuroko had laid out several t-shirts before him without any explanation, demanding Taiga bought them all without even trying them on. He had no doubt that Kuroko knew what size Kagami wore, all thing considered, but they were supposed to be shopping for shoes, not shirts – Taiga had plenty of perfectly good shirts. Not to mention that, upon closer inspection, it turned out the t-shirts were identical.

“They’re all the same,” he said out loud.

Kuroko sent him a blank look. “That’s not true, Kagami-kun.”

“Yes, it is. They’re all the same. Just different colors.”

“So they’re not all the same.”

Kagami’s brow twitched and he reflexively closed his hand on top of Kuroko’s hair. “I don’t need half a dozen of identical shirts. I have shirts, Kuroko. Shirts that don’t look the same.”

“I don’t like your shirts, Kagami-kun.”

“Huh?! Since when?! What’s wrong with my shirts?!”

Kuroko scowled defiantly before dropping his eyes and stubbornly turning his head to the side. Taiga knew that act, and it didn’t bode well – Kuroko wasn’t leaving the store until Kagami paid for every single one of those t-shirts. It didn’t mean he wasn’t going to put up a fight, though, but before he could say anything, Kuroko blushed and mumbled something Taiga couldn’t catch.

“What was that?”

Kuroko frowned at him, cheeks pink. “I said that they have sleeves.”

“What.”

“I will not repeat myself, Kagami-kun. Put the shirts in the cart so we can go home.”

Kagami grabbed Kuroko’s elbow just as he was turning around. “Woah, woah, woah! Not so fast!”

Keeping one hand securely around Kuroko’s arm, Taiga picked one shirt with the other, eyes shifting between his boyfriend and the suspicious article of clothing. He didn’t see it before, too focused on the shirts being identical, but they were all sleeveless. When Kuroko noticed that Kagami caught on this little detail, his blush deepened, as well as his scowl. Taiga swallowed, suddenly feeling hot, embarrassment slowly creeping out on him. He simultaneously dropped the shirt and Kuroko’s arm as if they burned him, and pointed an accusatory finger at his boyfriend.

“What the hell, Kuroko!” he spluttered.

“Please, don’t make a scene, Kagami-kun,” mumbled Kuroko, visibly embarrassed too. “I was merely trying to fix your questionable fashion choices.”

“By tricking me into buying a heap of identical sleeveless shirts?! Why?!”

Kuroko sighed, apparently giving up on the pretense, and the scowl was replaced by an almost sheepish expression. “I… prefer when you wear those, is all. That’s a good look for you.”

“Good-”

The rest of the sentence died in Taiga’s throat when suddenly everything just _clicked._  Kuroko was avoiding eye contact, absentmindedly stroking on of the t-shirts with his fingers, and Kagami felt another wave of heat washing over him – only this time, it wasn’t  _just_  because of the embarrassment. He swallowed thickly, awkwardly nudging Kuroko’s ankle with his foot, and cleared his throat.

“You just want me show off my arms so you can ogle them, don’t you.”

Kuroko finally looked at him, his eyes dark. “Yes.”

Taiga nodded shakily, the implications of that one simple word hitting him like a tone of bricks, and kept staring at Kuroko. His mouth felt dry so he licked his lips, and when Kuroko reflexively mirrored the action, Kagami couldn’t stuff the shirts into the cart fast enough. 


	37. Brontide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> brontide - the low rumbling of distant thunder

Kuroko flinched involuntarily at the distant sound of thunder, dreading driving the car in the storm, but he took his time instead of gathering his things in a hurry and rushing home. The reason for that was simple enough – Kagami-kun would be waiting for him at the entrance, precisely at the same time as always, to walk him to his car.

Kuroko suspected it was way beyond a security guard’s job description, and it only made him appreciate the gesture more. It was really sweet, considering the neighborhood and the late hour Kuroko always finished work, and Kagami-kun certainly seemed kind enough to have nothing but the best intentions. Also, the term “eye-candy” seemed to come to mind whenever they met.

Without fail, Kagami-kun was standing at the entrance when Kuroko finally walked down the stairs that he took instead of the elevator to pass the time. Even if Kagami has realized the questionable logic behind that, he didn’t comment on it, offering only a lopsided smile that tugged at Kuroko’s chest pleasantly. Surprisingly many things about Kagami-kun had that effect on him.

The walk to the other side of the street where the company parking was located wasn’t long, so they barely had time for small talk. Kagami-kun would ask about his day or his plans for the weekend, Kuroko would return the courtesy – nothing exceptional ever happened between them. And yet, Kuroko found himself developing feelings that grew stronger with each passing day.

As soon as they reached his car, Kuroko instantly became aware of the deteriorating weather, shuddering at the light sound of rain hitting metal even before it actually made contact with his skin. Kagami-kun looked up, grinning as he squinted at the drops falling in his eyes, and Kuroko gasped at the way it made his heart clench, almost grateful for the rain that has allowed him to see that.

Averting his eyes in embarrassment when Kagami-kun shifted his gaze to him, Kuroko wrapped his arms around himself and reluctantly opened the car. He thanked Kagami for his assistance before getting inside, but couldn’t bring himself to start the engine, begrudgingly watching the stormy sky in the rear mirror. He startled when Kagami suddenly rapped his knuckles against the window.

“You alright, Kuroko?”

Kuroko simply nodded and smiled feebly, flustered by being caught in a moment of weakness; he’s expected Kagami-kun to be long gone. He exhaled heavily when Kagami disappeared from his field of vision, but nearly jumped in his seat when the passenger door opened, and his companion sat down next to him, awkwardly bent and hunched, cringing at the small space inside Kuroko’s car.

“I’ll wait with you until the sky clears up,” he simply said.

Kuroko wanted to protest out of politeness, but he couldn’t help being grateful. “Won’t this get you in trouble at work, Kagami-kun?” he asked instead.

Kagami grinned as he waved the walkie-talkie in front of Kuroko’s face, and proceeded to try and make himself more comfortable. Kuroko smiled to himself, leaning back against the seat and closing his eyes, focusing on Kagami’s soft grunts and hushed curses instead of the sounds of the storm. When the thunder rumbled through the sky, though, he couldn’t hold back the whole-body shudder.

Kagami-kun just took Kuroko’s hand in his and squeezed. Kuroko squeezed back.


	38. Under the Rain

Kuroko wasn’t too happy with the state of things at the moment. He refused Kagami-kun’s offer to walk him to the bus stop, claiming that it was only a five-minute walk, and Nigou was a much better company anyway. What he hadn’t accounted for was missing his bus. He had to wait another twenty minutes for the next one, which wouldn’t be so terrible, considering he always had a book at hand, but it started raining heavily as soon as he reached the bus stop.

At first, Tetsuya felt guilty for briefly considering using poor Nigou as a make-shift umbrella, but after five minutes, they were both drenched to the bone. He did entertain the idea of going back to Kagami-kun’s apartment to dry himself and wait over, but with only ten minutes left to the bus, he really didn’t see the point. He was freezing, yes, but he hated to be an inconvenience, especially since Kagami-kun seemed exhausted long before Kuroko left.

Suddenly, there was something above his head, shielding him from the rain, and a warm,  _dry_  jacket was being wrapped around his shoulder. He looked up in surprise, and his eyes widened in shock, when he saw Kagami-kun holding an umbrella, and awkwardly trying to hide the fact he was panting for breath. Nigou whined softly, and enthusiastically started rubbing himself off on Kagami’s blissfully dry pants, causing him to recoil, and grumble petulantly.

“What are you doing here, Kagami-kun?”

Kagami turned his head to the side, scowling. “I came here as soon as I noticed it was raining,” he muttered, embarrassed. “Just in case you missed the bus or something. I told you it would rain, idiot.”

“Oh. That’s very thoughtful of you, Kagami-kun. Have I noticed the umbrella in your hallway, I would have borrowed it, and saved you the trouble.”

“Ah, no, I didn’t have one, I had to go to the convenience store now to get it.”

Tetsuya wasn’t sure if the shiver running down his spine was due to the cold, or the blush spreading on Kagami-kun’s cheeks after admitting something so embarrassing. Kuroko truly hated the times when Kagami-kun acted to absolutely recklessly and, what was even worse, selflessly, because it was really difficult not to just kiss him, right there on the street, where everyone could see them. He couldn’t even bare the uncertain side-glances Kagami kept sending him.

“That was really unnecessary, Kagami-kun,” he decided, suddenly nervous as well.

“Damn it, Kuroko,” groaned Kagami, undoubtedly tired with Tetsuya’s forced politeness. “You’re soaking wet, so how was that not necessary?”

Kuroko pointed a finger at the bus that has just arrived at the bus stop, and watched Kagami’s face flame up at the realization that his heroic deed was rather ill-timed. Cursing under his breath, Kagami-kun unceremoniously turned around to flee, but Tetsuya stopped him, grabbing his elbow, which nearly caused Kagami to slip on a puddle and topple over. They both miraculously managed to stay upright, but the bus has already left without Kuroko on board.

“Great, now what?” complained Kagami, frowning. “Now we’re both gonna just stand here and get wet for twenty minutes!”

Tetsuya shook his head, a small smile dancing on his lips. “I apologize, Kagami-kun, but that was the last bus. Please, let me stay over for the night.”

Kagami gaped for a second, before the meaning behind Kuroko’s words sank in, causing him to splutter in embarrassment, and grumble objections and insults all the way back to the apartment.


	39. Chapter 39

No one who knew Kagami would have pegged him for an art fan. He probably wouldn’t call himself that either. Was photography even art? Well, you looked at it and it gave you feelings, so he supposed so, but it still felt weird thinking of it as more than simply great pictures he enjoyed looking at. Besides, he just like this one photographer, really, some local guy who plastered his works all over Kagami’s neighborhood – maybe the feelings thing was coming from the sentimental value more than from sensitivity to art.

When the pictures suddenly disappeared off the streets, Kagami didn’t think much of it at first, and he probably would’ve left it alone if he didn’t come across an article about a new sensational photographer who was having his first exhibition soon. There was a picture of the guy in the magazine, and Kagami realized he’d seen him around lots of time, a blur in the corner of his eye, someone who wasn’t at all hard on the eyes, but seemed incapable of making an impression – probably why he tried making one with his art.

Himuro was more excited to go to the exhibition than Kagami expected, and he seemed to be a mine of information about Kuroko Tetsuya and his skyrocketing career. Despite almost everyone in the area seeing at least half of the pictures at some point, the place was full of people because Kuroko was supposed to reveal his newest and best work so far, at least according to his manager. Himuro had it on good authority that it was spicy, if not outright smutty, and Kagami didn’t know how to feel about that.

He certainly wasn’t an emotional savant, but he liked to think that, even though they never met, he had Kuroko figured out, because his pictures told a pretty touching story, and reflected a passionate, dedicated, and compassionate soul, and Kagami didn’t see porn fitting into all that. Romance, maybe, but Himuro, apparently, knew for sure Kuroko wasn’t involved with anyone.

“Maybe he’s fallen in love recently, that would be adorable.”

Kagami didn’t think so, but he wasn’t sure why, since it was none of his business what Kuroko did in his own time, as long as Kagami could look at his pictures – they were the ones giving him feelings, not their author. That was, of course, until the new piece was finally revealed, and Kagami was forced to face _himself._ Himuro was too speechless to even laugh at him, and Kagami possibly went into a cardiac arrest. He remembered the day the photo was taken, and he understood why some people would call it risque.

Kagami did have a mirror, thank you very much, but beauty was in the eye of the beholder, and the beholder certainly knew what angle to take to show that Kagami’s abs were lickable – Himuro’s words, for the record, because Kagami still couldn’t process what he was looking at. He remembered he had been playing street basketball that afternoon. He was shirtless, flushed and sweaty when he noticed a new picture on the fence and walked over to take a look. Learning that he had looked absolutely mesmerized by it was one thing, but seeing his own dazed expression covering a good chunk of a wall in an art gallery, where dozens of people could see it too, was pretty embarrassing, to say the least.

“I really wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

Kagami jumped, swirling around, to stand face to face with Kuroko who, in his defense, looked pretty embarrassed himself. He was horrified to realize that Kuroko was quite attractive up close and in person, and he couldn’t believe he’d never noticed him before. Was it creepy to think so? Was Kuroko even more of a creep, going around taking photos of half-naked Kagami? Did Kuroko just have crush, or was he going through his garbage? Did Kagami even care? Deciding he _should_ , he swallowed and braced himself to ask, when Kuroko finally spoke up.

“I hope it doesn’t make you uncomfortable. I must say that your continuous support, even if unintentional, was crucial to my work, and I suppose I wanted to honor that in a way. Some _other things_ might have slipped in, as you can see, for which I should apologize. It was very unprofessional. Could you please say something?”

Kagami had sometimes fantasized about meeting Kuroko, before he knew who he was, and he actually had lots of things to say, smart things, or insightful, or at least enthusiastic, but Kagami wasn’t that great in real life conversations that didn’t involve basketball, so he kind of just stood there speechless, until Kuroko’s carefully neutral expression turned disappointed, and he moved to leave. On impulse, Kagami grabbed his arm, and blurted out the first thing that came to his head.

“You give me feelings!”


	40. Chapter 40

Kuroko wouldn’t say he _spied_ on Kagami-kun. He simply occasionally took advantage of the fact Kagami-kun didn’t notice his presence – for educational purposes only. He’s learned a lot like this, and knew he wouldn’t have otherwise, because Kagami-kun was so easily embarrassed and quick to anger, eager to hide things about himself he perhaps thought unbecoming. Kuroko considered those qualities an important part of Kagami-kun, and he accepted them, but it didn’t mean he had to like it, and he tried not to feel overly guilty for catching the rare glimpses of different sides of Kagami-kun wherever he could find them.

It was particularly easy to sneak up on Kagami-kun when he was cooking. He was always so focused on the task at hand, and yet to seemingly far away, as if his mind was in a different place while his body worked on almost lethally precise automate. In those moments, Kuroko liked to sit by the kitchen table in Kagami-kun’s apartment and simply watch him, listen to him hum (another uncommon treat), and look for new things to learn from the drastically different body language he expressed when he was unaware of someone watching him.

Whatever Kagami-kun was preparing at the moment smelled absolutely delicious, but Kuroko has had a craving for a particular dish for a while now, and he couldn’t help feeling slightly disappointed that Kagami-kun hadn’t read his mind somehow and cooked it for him. He knew it was unreasonable and selfish, but at least he was the only witness to his own little sins.

“Stop with the puppy dog eyes, that’s cheating.”

Kuroko startled, momentarily shocked at being discovered, before realizing that he wasn’t the one being addressed. Nigou was at Kagami-kun’s feet, wagging his tail and whining softly, as he stared at him pleadingly, hoping for scraps. Kuroko bit his cheek to stop from smiling, or possibly letting out a wounded animal sound – he could never handle Kagami-kun bonding with Nigou like a proper and emotionally stable young adult.

“He is a puppy, Kagami-kun, I can’t imagine him looking at you with any other eyes.”

Before Kuroko finished the sentence, quite a few things managed to happen. Firstly, Kagami-kun yelped in terror, throwing up his hands, and everything they were holding, into the air, dropping all meat on the floor. Then, while he caught his breath, looking frantically around to located Kuroko, Nigou helped himself to the tasty offerings. Finally, Kagami-kun called out Kuroko’s name in a very menacing and threatening manner, but quickly turned his attention to Nigou, whose offense seemed to be even more unforgivable.

While Kagami-kun tried to pull Nigou away from the meat, muttering curses under his breath, Kuroko decided to step in and help, instantly bringing a scowl to Kagami-kun’s face. Nigou was a very well-behaved dog, but he wasn’t easily controlled around food, so after a long moment of pointless struggle, they both gave up and left him to licking the floor clean. Kuroko considered apologizing for both sneaking up, and for Nigou’s appetite, but his own stomach grumbled in that moment; Kagami-kun sprung to his feet to put distance between them, defensive.

“It’s your fault all food is ruined! I don’t care. I am not starting over. Do you hear me? I don’t care, Kuroko. Oh, seriously, stop with the puppy dog eyes, that’s cheating!


End file.
